Happy Middle?
by gilmoregirlsjunkieforever
Summary: LL have been together since 1999. They got married in 2001 and had a baby in 2002. (You're going to hate me now) begins in season 6 around the time Lorelai found out about April. Oh and for the sake of the story, Lorelai and Rory never had a rift, Logan is off to London and (for once) Lorelai is close to her parents. *Title will most likely change*
1. Chapter 1

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls. ASP owns it all.**

**A/N: Okay so I know I said I didn't want to start anymore stories until I had a few more complete, BUT on the car ride home from my grandma's I was doing homework and this idea came to me. I was thinking of adding it to WTRO but it would take _forever_ and a whole bunch of chapters for it to get to this point. I think I'm going to put Going Back on hiatus until sometime around February so I can focus on New Beginning (which is nearing its end) as well as my abandoned fics that I want to work with. But for now, this is my new fic.**

**Basically, LL have been together since 1999. They got married in 2001 and had a baby in 2002. (Here's where you're going to hate me now) begins in season 6 around the time Lorelai found out about April. Oh and for the sake of the story, Lorelai and Rory never had a rift, Logan is off to London and (for once) Lorelai is close to her parents. **

**Let's give this thing a whirl.**

Chapter 1

"I get that she is your daughter, Luke. I get that! But you have to remember that you have a wife and, in case you forgot, another daughter. You can't keep us away anymore. We're your family too. We've been your family for seven years!"

For months it has been like this; Lorelai fighting for her and Lucy, her four-year-old daughter she had with Luke, while Luke ignores her attempts, going off on his own to be with April. He hardly slept at the house now and really hadn't been around for Lucy-or Lorelai for that matter.

What made the whole ordeal hard for Lorelai is her daughter asking where her daddy is or that she misses her daddy. If it was just Lorelai, maybe she could deal with the pain but when she was tucking her daughter in at night or when Luke's absence in bed was replaced with Lucy that is what broke her.

As their fight continued on, it began to die out as the diner began to fill.

"April is coming by tonight, so I'll see you after seven." It was like he hadn't even heard her. And that last line, that last response triggered all of her anger to let loose.

"Yeah, after seven for what? An hour, hour and a half?" Anger became evident in her eyes as she narrowed them at him. "Don't even bother. I've been doing just fine with Lucy by myself. And in case you've forgotten, it's Friday; we're not home Friday nights. Just stay here, bond with April."

During her outburst, both failed to notice the two biggest town gossips sitting at the table closest to the counter. As Lorelai made her way out of the diner, door slamming shut behind her, Patty and Babette looked between the two and back at each other.

"I think he's really in for it now," Patty commented. "I've never seen Lorelai that angry."

"Other than that time she was pregnant with Lucy and Luke wouldn't let her have that one conncoction she was craving. Hadda go to Sookie for it!"

* * *

"Lucy, baby we're going to stay at Grandma and Grandpa for a few days, okay?"

"Alwight, Mommy. Rory too?"

Lorelai shook her head and smiled at how, even though there was a significant age difference between the two siblings, her two daughters were as close as Lorelai and Rory were. "No, baby. But we can go visit her. She'll be at dinner tonight too."

"Then les go! Wanna see Rory!"

With two overnight bags, Lorelai headed out the door with Lucy holding her hand. Knowing she would see Rory, Lucy didn't put up her usual refusal for the car seat. Dinner was casual that night, the elder Gilmores sensing there was still a drift between their daughter and son-in-law.

Emily and Richard knew of April and some of the problems between Luke and Lorelai since the discovery but they didn't know how bad it was. Considering she was staying at their house for a few days, they knew something serious had happened.

"Why don't I take Lucy to the pool house? We can come up with a game," Rory suggested, hoping to tire out her younger sister so she could have a talk with her mother.

"Thanks, Sweets. I'll be out there soon. I have to talk to Grandma and Grandpa first."

Lorelai waited a full five minutes, giving Rory plenty of time to get to the pool house, before she placed her head on folded arms which rested on the table. Normally Emily Gilmore would go out to town on scolding her daughter but upon hearing the sniffles coming from Lorelai, she held back.

"Is there anything you'd like to talk about, dear?" Richard asked hoping his daughter would let both himself and Emily in.

Lorelai shook her head before lifting it. Her eyes were puffy and red, tear tracks running down her face. "He keeps shutting me out. He is hardly ever home and he doesn't really see Lucy anymore. And it kills me because each night I'm putting her to bed she asks me where he is. I understand wanting to get to know April, I do but it's been six months since he found out about her, four of those months I've known about her and I see him for two hours every day, and that's if I'm lucky. We had a fight today...and it was like he completely ignored me and told me he's see me after seven. I just want my husband back."

Baffeled by what their daughter just told them, Emily and Richard stared at each other. Emily rose from her seat and walked over to Lorelai holding her close, comforting her daughter the best she could. Richard sat in his seat, his heart breaking for his daughter.

Richard was the first of the elder Gilmores to show their enthusiasm over Lorelai's relationship with Luke and Luke had even asked him for permission to propose to Lorelai. Richard, being the protective father he is, grilled Luke with questions making sure he would always care for his daughter. At this moment, Richard was furious with his son-in-law. And if Richard were to be honest to everyone, this is not his first time seeing Lorelai like this-she had come over many times while Emily was at her DAR meetings just wanting to be held by her father.

* * *

Rory had tired Lucy out within ten minutes and had been sitting in the living room area of the pool house waiting for Lorelai's return. Twenty minutes after waiting, Lorelai walked in the house looking worn out. Rory had been on the receiving end of Lorelai's venting many times so she had a good image of what was going on but she still wanted to make sure her mother was fine-especially upon hearing Lorelai was staying in Hartford for a few days.

"Are things worse back in the Hollow?"

"You don't even know the half of it anymore." With that small explanation, Lorelai began to dive into the day's fight.

Rory left an hour later after hearing everything that occurred as of late between her mother and step-father. She had one destination in mind and one destination only. She didn't give a damn if he had April with him, Rory was tired of seeing her mother broken and hearing of her little sister's requests for daddy.

**A/N: Also, I am hoping I can make the chapters longer than 1,000 words for this fic. **


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1**

**Thank you for all the reviews. Also, I went through my fics and re-read Missing You. Honest opinions, should I mark it as complete or add an epilogue?**

Chapter 2

Rory Gilmore was always one to follow traffic laws, so she couldn't reach Stars Hollow as fast as she wanted to. However, with empty roads, she made it to her hometown within thirty minutes, give or take. She skipped going to the Crap Shack and headed straight for the diner. At this moment in her life, she didn't give a damn if April was with him or not, or if the whole town was in the diner. All Rory knew was that Luke Danes was about to face the wrath of Rory Gilmore.

Of course it was a Friday night so it was date night, thus leaving the diner jam packed. But she didn't care. It didn't stokp her from beginning her held in outburst. And, to their pleasure, Babette and Patty had front row seats.

"LUKE!"

Startled, Luke looked up and gave a small smile and nod at his step-daughter. "Hey, Rory!"

"No. Don't you 'hey, Rory' me! You do not get the privelege of having pleasantries with me. What the hell is your problem?! Do you know what the hell you're putting my mother through?"

"Watch your language, young lady. What are you even talking about?"

Rory rolled her eyes. Was he really trying to be her father right now? Was Luke really this ignorant to the situation? Now Rory could personally relate to what Lorelai had told her in recent days. "Do. Not. Act. Like. My. Father," she emphasized each word making it clear that she was not a happy camper. "You know exactly what I'm talking about! I'm tired of seeing my mother and my sister broken over you! Where is the Luke from my childhood? Where is the guy that my mom married? Because he sure as hell isn't here right now."

"I'm dealing with April. Your mother and sister know that."

"No, you're not just dealing with the April situation. You are ignoring my mother and my sister. Do you even realize what you did back in March?"

"No..."

"You missed your own daughter's birthday party because you were off playing daddy to a girl you just met! Not only did I have to deal with an upset Lucy but I also had to deal with a heartbroken Lorelai-AGAIN!"

Luke looked baffeled. He knew he went to that party and he was definitely there for Lucy's birthday. "April needs me! And I was there."

"Your family needs you too! And you didn't even stay for the whole damn thing! You stayed for two hours at most. And guess where you went after that? YES, you went to go see April. You're a jackass, Luke. And you are not the Luke Danes us Gilmores once knew." Without giving Luke a chance to fight back, Rory stormed out of the diner just as fast as she came in.

Patty and Babette sat in shock after witnessing the outburst. It was a wonder that they didn't get whiplash from how fast their heads moved back and forth keeping up with Luke and Rory, their words bouncing out like a tennis match. Both women looked at each other before giving a slight nodded and left cash on their table. Before you knew it, they were out the door, prepared to do what they do best-spread the newest town gossip.

* * *

Lorelai was having trouble sleeping that night as she kept thinking about her relationship with Luke. She didn't even know how they were still together. Oh, right...Lucy. She was sticking it out for Lucy. Lorelai was taken out of her thoughts by the shrill ring of her cell phone. She glanced at the caller I.D hoping it wasn't Luke. When Sookie's name appeared, Lorelai answered it.

"Hey, Sook," her voice was still hoarse from crying most of the night.

"I guess it's true then, huh?"

Lorelai was instantly confused. What was true? "What are you talking about?"

"Patty just told Jackson who told me that you and Luke weren't doing too good. Rory came about a half hour ago, apparently she blew up at Luke..."

"She did? She is so getting it from me."

"So it's true then?"

"I don't know, Sookie. All I know is that we got in a fight in the diner today. I told my parents and Rory about it. And I'm staying away from town for a few days with Lucy. Can we talk about this when I get back? You know how Patty has her ways of listening in on phone conversations; I'd like to keep some of this crap personal."

"Of course. I'll tell Michel not to expect you for a couple of days."

"Thanks, Sook."

It's reasons like this that Lorelai is happy she owns, well co-owns, her own inn. She can take as many days off that she needs and she never has to worry about getting fired. Although Michel did try to fire her once before.

* * *

Saturday just shy of noon, Rory arrived at the Gilmore Mansion to take Lucy out for the day. For the first five minutes, she dealt Lorelai confronting her about going to Luke's yesterday. In the end, Lorelai wasn't mad, just shocked.

While Rory had Lucy out, Lorelai decided that she would go run a few errands then head back to Stars Hollow to pay Luke another visit. She had a brief talk with Richard that morning and he gave his advice for Lorelai to go talk things out with Luke.

Her errands took most of the day and by the time she arrived at the diner, it was already seven at night. Rory had called to tell her Lucy would be spending the night in the apartment Rory shared with Paris. Taking a deep breath, Lorelai walked into the diner.

All commotion seemed to stop, silence grew throughout the diner. Luke looked at the door which had just brought in another customer and was surprised to see Lorelai standing there.

"I need to talk to you."

Silently, Luke led Lorelai out of the diner, very aware of their audience inside. "Didn't want the gossips to hear."

"What more is there to hear? Honestly, Luke! They know everything about this damn situation. Hell, I wouldn't be surprised if they knew more than I did!"

"You're being dramatic..."

Lorelai didn't register Luke's response before she blurted out, "let us in. Let Lucy and me in on your secret life."

"Let's talk this through," Luke tried to reason.

Was he serious? It wasn't as if she just said 'hey, let's go get married'. "No. I don't want to talk. I just want to be back in your life."

"I can't just let you in!"

"Why not, Luke? Don't you love us?"

"Yes, I do-"

"But we love you Luke, we love you. Lucy and I, we've waited and stayed away but no more. We want in."

"Let me think here," Luke mumbled.

"You hardly live in the house anymore. We're a team; we're supposed to make decisions together."

"Will all of you stop bringing up the damn house! I don't care about the house."

"Do you care about us, me and Lucy?"

"Of course!"

Out of frustration, Lorelai ran a hand through her hair. "You're driving me crazy! We are committed to each other by law and I need to stick with it; we promised that we would always work together."

"I have April to consider."

"You're going to have to figure out how April fits into_ our life_, _not_ the other way around! For months I have been sulking around, not saying anything, not having an opinion on anything like I'm Clarence Thomas or something and I'm done. For months I have comforted Lucy when she asked for you or questioned me on where you were and I did it for her sake not yours!"

"I have to think this through."

"No! What's there to think through? We're _married_ and we're supposed to live in _our_ house together. And we're supposed to raise our daughter _together_. I'm done waiting. Either you let us in now or never."

"I don't like ultimatims!"

"I don't like Mondays, but unfortunately they come around eventually."

"I can't just jump like this!"

"It's not jumping! It's letting your wife and daughter in your secret life with your long-lost daughter. You know what, I have to go."

* * *

The drive back to Hartford seemed longer than it normally was. Ignoring the path she would take to the pool house, Lorelai rang the bell to the main house. Emily was heard on the other side complaining about someone appearing at their doorstep at such a late hour but stopped short of seeing her daugther's red, puffy face.

Lorelai's lips trembled as she hoarsely said one simple word that showed she was ready to break down into pieces. "Mommy." Just the one simple word caused Emily to guide her daughter into the house, holding her tight.

"Emily, who was at the-" Richard stopped at the sight of his wife supporting their daughter's weight. "Lorelai?" The only response giving was a shake of her head and more sobs that managed to escape her body. Richard had an inkling as to what caused his daughter's emotional break down.

"I can't do it anymore; it's over."

"What do you mean it's over?" Emily asked, truly worried for her daughter. She was out of the loop knowing Lorelai and Richard had a previous talk over the matter.

"My marriage. It's over, gone."

If Emily were to be honest, she didn't like her son-in-law when Lorelai first introduced him to herself and Richard but as time passed on, Emily grew to love Luke, yes love, but he was quickly losing it if he was the cause of Lorelai's dishelvement. "Can you tell us what happened?"

"I told him I wanted him to include both myself and Lucy in his secret life with April. And we got into this argument over it in the middle of the street. I told him he either lets us in now or never...and he said he had to think about it, he had to consider April in the matter. And it's not fair to Lucy. She didn't ask for this. I probably just lost Luke to his long-lost daughter's mother. What did I do? Huh? What the hell did I do to deserve all of this?"

The elder Gilmores let Lorelai get her frustrations out, as she did the night before, before consoling her any further. Richard offered his help with hiring a divorce attorney and Emily offered her the pool house if she needed it any longer than two days.

Accepting the help, Lorelai stalked off to the pool house and pulled out her cell phone.

"Hello?" Rory's voiced from the other end of the phone.

"Hey, is she asleep yet?"

"You just missed her. But I know that's not the only reason you called. What's wrong? Your voice sounds different."

Releasing a sigh, Lorelai spoke into the phone. "You know me all too well. You know everything about me, I think..."

"Mom, stop getting off track. What did you call for?"

"I think I'm filing for divorce..."

**A/N: I've finished replacing all of my glass windows with plexiglass, so throw all the rocks you want (my horrible attempt at humoring the angered). But I still must beg of you-don't hate me; have some faith in me. Sorry if there are any spelling errors; I have been running on three hours of sleep all day and it is now catching up with me. **


	3. Chapter 3

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1**

Chapter 3

_Previously_

_"Mom, stop getting off track. What did you call for?"_

_"I'm filing for divorce..."_

"What are you talking about? What happened since we last talked?"

"I went to the diner today and we got into this argument in the middle of the street. I basically told him that he starts letting us in now or never. And he said he had April to consider. April! He chose the girl he met months ago over his wife and daughter, who he's known about since the beginning."

"Mom..."

"Don't, Rory. Please don't try to talk me into staying with him. I can't take it anymore. I mean just the fact that he feels he needs to consider how we fit into April's life rather than the other way around-the way it should be-is enough for me to call it quits. The Luke I saw tonight is not the Luke I have known for eight years. And if I can't have my old husband back, well then I don't want him at all."

"Okay, I understand how you feel...but what if he proves to you that he can change back to the guy you've known since nineteen ninety-eight? Would you stay with him then?"

"I don't know, Rory. I don't know anything at this point other than your grandfather is helping me find a lawyer and your grandmother is offering the pool house to me if I need to get away from Stars Hollow."

"What about Lucy? How are you going to explain things to her?"

"Rory, Luke hasn't slept in the house since he found out about April in November. He has hardly seen Lucy in those months, I can deal with telling her that it's going to stay that way. Of course I'll let Luke see her but I might get try for full custody since he really hasn't been around for half a year."

Their call continued for another ten minutes until they said their goodbyes to each other. Lorelai was glad to know that Rory was going to help her out through it and that her first born wasn't disappointed in her. When she set her cell phone down, Lorelai made her way over to the kitchen area of the pool house and grabbed a pen and paper. Knowing Richard had good contacts with people, Lorelai prepared herself for a meeting with a lawyer the next day. She sat down and began to write a letter that she would give to Luke after the divorced papers were served.

_Luke,_

_I wish we could have made this work. It kills me having to terminate what we once had, but it is something I have to do; not only for myself but for Lucy too. I'm not going to keep you away from her but I also don't want her near you if you're going to ignore her for April. I hate to say it, but you keeping April away from us, and deciding that you had to figure out how to fit me and Lucy into April's life, rather than how April will fit into ours...that's what caused this. I understand if you hate me, but I can't be dragged around like this anymore. I can't have Lucy living in a negative enviornment anymore. Just know that I will always love you and I'm sorry for not being able to make 'us' work anymore. You're not the Luke I once knew; the one I fell in love with. _

_-Lorelai_

She felt it was wrong to write 'love Lorelai' considering the fact that divorce papers will have just been sent to him.

Lorelai's assumptions had been proven correct when she walked into the elder Gilmores mansion for breakfast. Richard had caught her on the way to the dining room and spoke to her about a lawyer coming to speak with her that day. Lorelai agreed and had told Richard that she knew what she wanted from the divorce already, so that made life a little easier. After breakfast, Lorelai gave Rory a call and asked her to keep Lucy for a little while longer with little explanation.

"Lorelai, this is Charles Gavenport, he is going to help you with the divorce. Let's take the to the study." Wordlessly, Lorelai followed Richard to the study and sat in a leather chair.

"Nice to meet you, Lorelai."

"You too."

"Let's move on with this shall we? Now Richard told me everything that has been going on. Are you sure you want to file for divorce?"

"Yes, I'm sure. I already have a few things jotted down that I would want. The house, but I think I would get that anyway because it's in my name. And maybe full custody of our daughter since he hasn't been around lately."

"Okay."

And so for the next hour or so Lorelai and Charles Gavenport filled out the correct forms and talked over the divorce process.

About a week later, Lorelai was working the front desk at the Dragonfly while Rory was unpacking her bags for the summer as she was living at home until school started back up, and her helper in the process was Lucy.

Lorelai knew that Luke would be served with the papers the next day so she gave someone a call to deliver her letter after Luke was given the papers.

"Kirk, it's Lorelai. I have a job for you tomorrow and I'm willing to pay you however much you want..." Lorelai had briefly explained why she needed him to deliver a letter after a delivery at the diner, but in the end, Kirk had agreed to do it for a measly twenty dollars to pay for his meal and sitting around outside waiting for said delivery.

When she got off the phone, Lorelai place it back on it's base and let out a sigh. Surprisingly, ever since Michel found out about Lorelai's problems the week prior, he had been more understanding...and caring. He was even willing to answer the phones in case Luke made a phone call. As she let out the breath she had been holding in, Sookie rounded the corner with Michel.

"You hired Kirk to deliver a letter to Luke?"

"Yes, I did. Why did I? Because I don't want to see the look on Luke's face when I give him the damn thing. I don't even want to me in a mile radius when he receives the paper from a state marshal. Do you know why? Because it will break my heart and I will tell him to forget about them, we can work through our problems. No, he lost the right to play around with my heart the minute he had to even think about letting me and Lucy around April. It's not like we're attack dogs looking to attack his new found daughter!"

"Sookie! I had just calmed her down from the other day! Now I have to start all over," Michel complained, his French accent strong.

Luke was wiping down the counter the next day when a new customer arrived in the diner. "Take a seat. I'll be with you in a minute."

"Lucas Danes?"

"It's Luke," Luke corrected.

"Luke Danes?"

"Yeah," it was easily detected the the diner owner was getting frustrated with the newest customer. Luke rose an eyebrow when he saw the man retreiving an envelop from his coat pocket.

"You have been served. Have a good day."

Kirk waited until he saw Luke open the envelop. He then reconsidered doing his job when he saw Luke throw the papers down, but he knew Lorelai needed Luke to receive the letter...she made it sound important. Kirk just couldn't figure out why Lorelai, Luke's wife, couldn't say whatever was on the letter to Luke's face. The bells above the door rang out and Luke looked at Kirk.

"What do you want, Kirk," Luke said. Oh, yes he was pissed. Kirk could tell by the vein popping out of Luke's neck, and not to mention to redness of Luke's face.

"I was asked to give you this."

"This is ridiculous! Is this some sick joke to everyone? I know Lorelai wouldn't do that to me! And she sure as hell wouldn't have asked you to give me something when she can do it personally!"

Kirk put his arms up in surrender. "I'm just doing what I was hired to do."

Stalking to the kitchen, Luke yelled to Caesar. "Take the floor! I'm going upstairs. Don't come and get me unless the place is on fire!" Snatching the papers, Luke bounded the stairs and threw the on the table. He pulled the letter out of the envelop Kirk just handed to him and sure enough, there in black ink was Lorelai's hand writing. He read over the letter twice until he grabbed his keys and left the building.

Rage built up inside him as he drove. He couldn't see what had led her to this. Was she really ending everything that they had? And to go for full custody but still allow him near Lucy? This wasn't like Lorelai at all. This was something Emily Gilmore would do. Arriving at the inn, he jumped out of his truck and stormed into the lobby.

"Where is she, Michel?"

"I do not know who you are talking about."

"My wife! Where is she."

"I do not know. She has not been in today. Have a good day."

Ignoring Michel, Luke headed towards Lorelai's office, not seeing her in there, he went to the kitchen. Neither Lorelai or Sookie were there. "She's not here!" Luke screamed at Michel.

"I know that, diner man. I told you she was not here."

"She with Sookie?"

"No. Sookie was working today. She is now at the hospital after another accident. That woman is so clumsy, I don't know how she still has her fingers."

Luke headed back to their house and rage built even more when he saw Lorelai's jeep in the driveway, and Lorelai herself in the garage.

"Lorelai! What the hell is all of this?" Luke asked out of rage as he referred to not only the papers in his hand but the boxes that were piling up."

"Those in your hand are divorce papers. The boxes are yours. Figured I'd make it a little easier on everyone. You know, so Lucy and I don't have to watch you move everything from my house and so you don't have to waste that much April time with packing your things. You just have to move them to the diner. See, it's a win for everyone. I even figured out how to fit it into April's life. Something you can't seem to figure out how to do!" The last dig she made at him pleased herself as she didn't think she had it in her to fight anymore.

"None of this is your doing! This has Emily Gilmore written all over it!"

"Do NOT talk about my mother that way. She's the one that tried to talk me out of doing all of this! My mother had actual feelings for you and you screwed it all up! My father was pleased with you for the way that you treated not just me, but Lucy and Rory too but he finds you weak now. Is it his fault too? Because he's the one that helped me find a lawyer to get the ball rolling on this whole thing. What about Rory, huh? I heard about her outburst at you, do you think she has any part in this too? Huh? Listen here, Luke. Because of your actions, everybody in my family is suffering. Rory looked up to you seeing as her father is a deadbeat, Lucy doesn't even know where the hell you've been! My mom and dad have been putting up with me crying to them whenever I need to vent and Sookie or Rory aren't available because of you! Oh, and then there's me. Ever since we started dating all I've heard was 'that Lorelai Gilmore better not hurt Luke'; well what about me?! Never have you heard 'that Luke Danes better not hurt Lorelai'. Nope, never. And I'm tired of putting everyone else's needs and pleasures above mine! The only two people I should put before me are Rory and Lucy. And that's where it's staying! That's it, Luke; we are done."

Unknown to them, they had an audience of two, plus their gnomes, watching the fight unfold.

**A/N: I'm hoping to having the next chapter up by morning. I'm not too sure how that's going to go, though. Anywho, here's chapter three. I know a divorce is not that fast and it takes months on end for it to happen, but let's pretend that Richard is...helping(?) financially. And for those of you reading my other stories, no I have not forgotten about them, inspiration just struck me for this fic that's why I'm frequently updating it, and I am planning to try and work on them tomorrow and Tuesday. Thank you for all the reviews, especially chants who promised no rock throwing. Before I lose readers: Lorelai will **_**not**_** be going to Christopher ****at**_** all**_**. I can't stand the guy. I was watching the episode today of when they were in Dooses' and he kept putting her junk food back...like, no...Luke wouldn't have done that-he would have tried it but never actually go through with it. Personally, I hate season 6 and 7 and we totally got jipped off in the last episode on the javajunkie-ness. The way writers made Luke since finding out about April made me want to slap him each time he acted like an ass to Lorelai; you waited years for her and now you're throwing her to the side for your daughter? I get the whole wanting to know his daughter thing, but he could have included Lorelai because before they were together, he would always let Lorelai in...with her insistance. OKAY rant over...sorry I just had to get that out. And remember, have faith in me with this one. I mean it is javajunkie after all :)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1**

**Thank you for all the reviews and feedback so far and a special thanks to javajunkieobsessed for the idea of flashbacks. I think I am definitely going to use them :)**

**Oh, I forgot to add at the beginning of chapter 2 that dialogue was borrowed from 'Partings' (a.k.a one of the worst GG episodes known to man).**

**Also, I narrowed it down to four stories that I am going to complete before I finish any other fics. So (hopefully) I will have an update for Going Back, New Beginning and A New Path of Life by next week. And I am going to try and keep up with the daily updates of this fic because I love the way it is coming together for me. **

Chapter 4

Luke watched Lorelai march her way to the house before he started toward his truck again. He didn't feel like taking any boxes with him because as far as he's concerned, there will be no divorce. Luke thought he saw a petite figure running their way down the driveway but ignored it; if Babette heard the fight, there was no keeping it a secret now.

Caesar kept the floor as Luke bounded the stairs that led to the apartment. He had to admit that, yes, some of his things made their way back to the old apartment but he still didn't see that as big as a problem to cause a fight. There had to be a reason why Lorelai kept fighting with him this week. As Luke sat on the couch, a thought came to mind.

_She couldn't be...could she?_ Luke wondered to himself as an old memory came to surface.

_For the past week, Lorelai had kept losing her patience with Luke. It seemed as if any little thing he did wrong she would pick a fight about. Not knowing what was going on was killing Luke. He had not one idea what it could be that caused the suddens mood swings. _

_Later that day when Luke arrived home from the diner, he was greeted with Rory giving him a smile while patting his shoulder. Confusion immediately hit Luke as he went in search of Lorelai. He found her sitting at the table with something in her hand. _

_"I need to tell you something," she said quietly. They hadn't planned on any children yet even though they had been married for a few months, but Lorelai wanted to be married at least a year before they brought anymore kids into the mix. She looked up at him, handing him the plastic object that was once in her hand._

_"Is this why you've been losing your temper lately?"_

_Lorelai shurgged it off. "Pregnancy hormones." Yes, that would be her answer for any problem she encountered, the pregnancy card. _

_"And this is why Rory just patted my shoulder?"_

_"She walked in the house as I was just coming out of the bathroom. She asked questions to I answered."_

* * *

Lorelai was busy cleaning up the mess she had left in her heist to remove Luke's belongings from her house. She picked up random magazines that had found their way to the floor, straightened out the cushions and pillows on the couch and managed to put all of Lucy's stray toys away. Just as she finished cleaning, the phone rang. She slowly made her way over to it, slowly losing any engery she had gained in the last day or two.

"Hello?"

"Are you pregnant?"

Lorelai's eyes grew wide, fury quickly showing. "Excuse me? Is this your way of telling me I'm fat?"

"No. But the damn mood swings and irrational decisions can be explained by a pregnancy."

Lorelai shook her head. Of course he would try to find a way to spin it all on her. "Luke, in order for me to even be pregnant, I would of had to have slept with you. It's been quite sometime since we had sex, believe me, I should know. And FYI, it's not an irrational decision this is something that was bound to happen. The so called 'mood swings' you think I've been having aren't modd swings, it's everything I have bottled up inside of me exploding out! Who the hell are you calling me asking if I'm pregnant so we can spin the blame game to be Lorelai's fault. Original, Luke, real original. No, I'm not pregnant. And you have forty-eight hours to return your response with the divorce papers." With that, Lorelai hung up the phone.

She couldn't believe he had the courage to call her up and ask her if she's pregnant. That just adds to her list of disappointments of Luke.

* * *

Rory decided to take Lucy to Hartford for the day so Lorelai could begin to pack Luke's belongings up. Deciding that the mall would be boring, Rory took her sister to the playground. As she was swinging Lucy in the baby swing, Rory noticed her sister had a facial expression on that she had never seen before on Lucy.

"Got something on your mind, Lucy?"

"Why is Mommy so sad all the time? I never see her smile anymore."

Rory was at a loss of words. She certainly would not be the one explaining Luke's behavior. "She smiles. Whenever you or I are around she smiles."

"Not like she did before. It's just a tiny smile now. I just don't know why she's so sad."

"She's not sad," Rory lied to her sister only to save her the heartache she herself and Lorelai were going through.

Lucy shook her head. "That's not true. When I'm sleeping I hear her in her room. She's always crying. And when I go in there she pretends to be okay. And she always puts me on the bed next to her in my daddy's spot."

Rory already knew that, but to reassure her sister she simply said, "I'll talk to her."

* * *

Richard entered the living where Emily was sitting. "I just got off the phone with Lorelai. Poor girl is still falling apart. She said they got in a fight when he came to confront her about the divorce papers," Richard spoke to his wife but noticed she didn't even hear a word he said. "And so I told her she should just go back to the man," Richard continued, making up the last part to catch Emily's attention, but to no avail. That was when he noticed the book she was going through. Lorelai's wedding album. When he took a seat next to Emily, she jumped not noticing hre husband had entered the living room.

"Richard, she was so happy that day. I've never seen her so radiant before, other than when she told us about her pregnancy with Lucy. Do you know she almost walked out on him? I caught her trying to climb out the window in her wedding dress.

_Rory had just left Lorelai alone in the bridal suite to go and retreive Emily. As she sat, waiting for Emily to come in, Lorelai questioned why she was doing this. Why did she say yes? All the thoughts that swam around her head convinced her that she shouldn't be doing this. So, before Emily got to the room, Lorelai held up the train of her dress and darted for the open window knowing that she would get caught if she left through the door. Just as she was about to break free, one leg out of the window the other half way, Emily walked in._

_"Lorelai! What in God's name are you doing? You're getting married in less than twenty minutes!"_

_"Yeah...about that," before she could finish Rory ran in with Sookie close behind. _

_Rory rose an eyebrow when she saw Lorelai's body half way through the window. "Where were you planning to go? I was your transportation here."_

Rory and I diffused that problem with a little alcohol. We told her that it was cold feet and Rory reminded her everything she loves about Luke. Lorelai thanked me later at the reception."

"No, I didn't know that."

"Well, she did. Rory is my witness. Oh, Richard, I just want my witty, inappropriate, happy daughter back."

"I know, Emily. I know. We all miss the old Lorelai."

* * *

Lorelai was cleaning out the fridge when she heard the front door open. She prayed it wasn't Luke coming back for another round of fighting. As she was about to go check it out, Rory entered the kitchen with a sleeping Lucy in her arms.

"Did you tire my child out?"

"Yes, yes I did because we need to talk."

Lorelai had a feeling it was about what was going on with Luke, so she just agreed rather than bickering over it. "Okay. Give me her, I'll go put her in her bed." Lorelai carried the sleeping form of Lucy up to the second floor and gently placed her on the bed, careful not to wake her. With a sigh, Lorelai returned downstairs. "Fine, what is it?"

"Lucy asked me why you're sad all the time. And why you don't smile anymore," Rory got right to the point wanting to save her mother from having to talk about the difficult situation for long.

Lorelai's face was blank. "What do you mean?" Rory then began to tell her mother about everything Lucy said at the park. "This is all Luke's fault. He's the reason why all of this is even happening! I wouldn't be breaking down whenever I think of happier times with us. I wouldn't of had to fill out divorce papers. I wouldn't be going through all of this if he had used a God damn condom when he slept with _her_."

The fury in Lorelai's eyes frightened Rory a bit. Not once in her life had she seen Lorelai this furious. And she was talking like Anna was the other woman. "Mom, it's not like she's the other woman..."

"Oh yes she is. If it wasn't for her keeping a kid from Luke for twelve years then Luke and I would be living in this house, together, happily. I wouldn't have just filed for a divorce. My life wouldn't be hell!"

"If you're looking at it that way, then April is the other woman."

"I can't say that because she's just a child! She didn't ask to be in this world."

Rory looked at her mother. There was something more to this than Lucy's questioning. "Mom, is there something else you might want to tell me?"

"I'm not pregnant, okay!"

"You and Luke were trying..."

"NO! And frankly, I'm glad I'm not pregnant. Don't want to drop another sucker into this world."

In confusion Rory looked at Lorelai. "Then where did the pregnant comment come from?"

"Luke! He called and asked me if I was pregnant because I've been fighting with him all this week. And that's how it was right before I found out I was pregnant with Lucy. But that was after he came over today..."

"Slow down, you're all over the place right now. You went from not being pregnant, to where that comment came from to Luke coming over here today."

Lorelai folded her arms on the table and placed her head on them. "Where did my happiness go?"

Rory could have answered with a witty comment but knew that it was too serious a conversation for that. Instead, she came up with a plan. "How about you and I go away for the weekend?"

"And where, exactly will Lucy be? I am not leaving her with Luke."

"I'll see of Grandma and Grandpa can be on Lucy duty for forty-eight hours."

For once in the past few months, Lorelai smiled a genuine smile. "You're my favorite twenty-one-year-old."

**A/N: Working on chapter 5 as I finish posting this. For the last chapter, I meant to add at the end of the story that I just had to have Kirk involved somehow. At first he was going to be the one to serve Luke the papers but then I was like...no that's a state marshal's. So I have my friend watching the whole series and she totally blew up when they showed Lorelai at Christopher's apartment in 'Partings'. She's the one that gave me the idea of Lorelai slipping through the window. "You should just have her try to climb out the window since she's always bailing on the people she loves!" was her exact words to me (if you couldn't tell, that was after she watch all of season six with the whole ignoring Rory and sleeping with Christopher thing). I apologize for the super long author notes lately and for any spelling errors in the chapter as I wrote this at two o'clock in the morning.**


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1**

**A/N: Finally after half a month with no internet I am able to post again! I've been wanting to update ever since I finished writing this chapter. I have up to chapter 10 planned out but I haven't written them completely because I want to see how the reviews come in and seeing what people would like to see in future updates. Hopefully I can update daily again.**

**Droolia: senior year is super crazy since I have both a creative writing class and an advanced placement English class, but I have my lunch period and computer lit class (when we don't do work) so I am going to try and write then and come home to type it up. Hopefully I can keep up with the updates because I love writing this story. **

Chapter 5

"Where are we going?"

"It's a surprise!"

Rory was in the driver's seat driving Lorelai to their weekend away destination. The elder Gilmores agreed to take Lucy for the weekend knowing that it would do their daughter some good to get away from the madness of her life. Since it was a spur of the moment trip, Richard offered Rory the keys to the Martha's Vineyard home he and Emily had.

"Just tell me if I've ever been there before."

"No because then I will be spending the rest of the ride listening to you naming each place you've ever been."

The back and forth banter, especially Rory's last response made Lorelai quiet down. She turned in her seat and watched the scenery they passed. Lorelai didn't even notice that she began sniffling until Rory asked her if she was okay.

Wiping the fallen tears, and without taking her eyes away from the scenery, Lorelai gave a weak, "fine. I'm fine." Though she wasn't fine. She and Luke would always banter like that and Luke would never tell her where he was taking her for dates when they began dating. Everything reminded her of Luke and she hated it. She was just trying to enjoy a nice weekend away with her oldest daughter, was that too much to ask for? Lorelai hadn't even noticed Rory pulled over until she felt Rory unbuckle both their seatbelts and pulled Lorelai close to her, as if Rory was the mother comforting her daughter.

"What's wrong?"

Lorelai's muffled response was, surprisingly, clear to Rory. "I don't know how I'm going to do it. I haven't been alone since right before you were born. And now Grandma and Grandpa ask to take Lucy sometimes, you take her other times. Or she goes to a friends house. Luke was almost always there. In the past few months I rarely let Lucy go off with someone else because I didn't want to be alone. But I've always been married to Luke, how am I going to be able to go on without that?"

"Mom, you've been beating yourself up about this for months. Lucy and I have been with you all those times Luke wasn't there and then some. I don't mean to be cruel, but here's the truth: it's already like you're divorced. It's a rarity that we see him and when you do see him a fight breaks out. He doesn't live at the house anymore." Rory felt Lorelai weakly nod her head.

"I can't even act normal around my own daughter because it reminds me of him. How we used to banter, how he pretended to get annoyed with me, how he never told me where we were going when he took me out." Rory mentally kicked herself for being the cause of this random meltdown. "I want things to go back to the way they were. Before April happened. We should name a freaking hurricane after her. I just...I want to be happy again."

Still holding her mother tight, Rory reassured her, "You will Mom, it's just going to take some time."

"How much time?"

"Remember when I found out about Dean and Lindsay? The mourning process I went over?"

"That's different. You two were broken up."

"Yes, but I found out that he was with here while we were dating. Now I know your healing process won't take two gallons of Ben and Jerry and your mom to help you through it."

"God what if he goes to Anna! I don't want Lucy having her as a stepmother!" Again, Rory mentally kicked herself for bringing up her failed relationship because of another woman. Stuck at what to say, Rory asked Lorelai if she still wanted to go away for the weekend. In response, she got a child-like "yes, please."

* * *

Luke was serving customers in the diner while he was still riled up over the divorce papers delivered the day before. Numerous patrons were thrown out for talking about his relationship with Lorelai. His fuse blew, again, when Lane walked up to him.

"Hey, Luke...I just got off the phone with Rory. Lorelai wanted someone to tell you that you have the weekend to get all of your boxes out of the garage or else they're going on the lawn for trash day."

"I'm getting a little sick and tired of people delivering me news about my relationship lately! No one tells me what to do! That is my house too! Lucy is just as much my daughter as she is Lorelai's!"

In shock, Lane looked at Luke seriously. "I know it's not my place to say, but I just have to tell you that this was not an easy decision for Lorelai. For months she mulled it over and finally thought better of it. That is until you refused to let her see April. And poor Lucy...do you even want to be her dad anymore? Because if you do, you have a funny way of showing it. I may work for you, and I will let you yell at me when you need to get something off of your chest, but Lorelai is my second mother and I will take her side any day. And I am so close to quitting because of the changed man you are. If it wasn't for my need of cash, I would have." Lane wanted to tell Luke what her decision was since she had been covering for him lately when he went with April, and as he had said many times, his best worker.

"I'm not with April that much!"

"My time card says differently. Look, I'm just a messenger. Now, I am going back to work. I suggest you go take your things away from Lorelai's house because I know she was serious about putting them on the lawn. Rory and I had to talk her into giving you some time to pick them up before trashing them. Oh, I do have three of the boxes, she gave them to me yesterday. She said it was valuables that she didn't want getting messed up; I think she said it was some of the belongings to your mom and dad."

"You said she was out of town?"

"That's what Rory told me."

* * *

Once they boarded the ferry, Lorelai had an idea on where they were going but said nothing. Rory was doing a nice thing for her and she didn't want to ruin it. She wouldn't let Luke and Luke-like thoughts put a damper on her time with Rory.

"Any idea on where we're going yet?" Rory asked trying to break her mother out of the melancholy mood she was now in.

With a trace of a smile, Lorelai looked at her daughter. "Yeah, I think so. But you want it to be a surprise. I'll let you have it, okay?"

"Okay."

After the ferry ride, Rory led Lorelai back to the car and began the drive to the Gilmores' Martha's Vineryard home. "Now Grandma said that it is a private beach so no one else should be there. I brought some movies so we can have a movie night if you want. You tell me what you want to do and we'll do it, okay?" In response, Lorelai nodded her head while she wrapped Rory into a tight hug.

"I love you, Rory. Thank you for all of this. Seriously, I think this is going to be good."

With it being so close to the summer season, Rory and Lorelai spent their whole first day on the private beach connected to the Gilmore's beach house. Lorelai had to admit that it was quite the calming enviornment. She and Rory walked along the water line of the beach getting further enjoyment of the tranquil surroundings. Theire conversations were solely on light topics as to not ruin the calming scenery they found themselves in.

When the evening air had made itself known, the two Gilmore girls walked back into the house and started up their first real movie night in a long while.

"Do you know how good it feels to watch the good old fashioned movies with you," Lorelai asked in the middle of the first movie.

"It feels like forever since we had a true movie night. Fully equiped with junk food, too."

Lorelai looked at Rory and for a minute, Rory thought Lorelai would burst because of the reference to not having their normal amount of junk food. "The last time I remember this is back when Lucy was I think maybe three? Grandma and Grandpa asked if they could have her for the weekend and Luke was working late because of deliveries. It was just the two of us and we took advantage of the alone time. Don't get me wrong, I love Lucy and everything..."

"I know what you mean. I miss the alone time we used to have just as much."

* * *

Having heard from Lane that Lorelai and Rory went out of town, Luke was fuming on where Lucy was. Once the lunch rush was over, Luke hopped in his green truck and rode over to Sookie's house.

It took three knocks before Sookie answered the door. "Luke." It was a statement rather a a question and the way she spoke proved that she wasn't too pleased to see her best friend's almost ex-husband.

"Where is she," Luke demanded.

"Who?"

"My daughter."

"Which one?"

"Don't play this game with me!"

"Fine. Lorelai went out of town with Rory. Rory arranged for Lucy to stay with someone. And I'm not saying who."

Knowing that the town would be buzzing by now if Lucy was staying with anyone in Stars Hollow, Luke took off to Hartford. He arrived at the mansion and knocked insistantly on the thick wooden door. Much to his surprise, and dismay, Emily Gilmore herself answered the door.

Emily looked at Luke with distaste written in her eyes. She had a feeling on why he was here, a reason that she would not let happen. "Oh, it's you. What could you possibly want from me?"

"My daughter."

"I can't help you there. Lorelai left her in our care and that is where Lucy will stay. God knows you won't notice her if that other daughter of yours come around. She's out with Richard anyway. Goodbye." Emiy was not pleased with this man at all and wanted nothing more than for him to get off her property.

* * *

The next day, Lorelai and Rory spent most of the day shopping before they prepared to go back home. Their weekend together ended too soon in Lorelai's view. Soon she would be back in Stars Hollow dealing with the town's gossip of her failing marriage, and not to mention having to fight over any little thing with Luke.

On the drive back to Stars Hollow, Lorelai turned to look at Rory who was driving. "Do you think I made the right decision? Filing for divorce? Or is that just me taking the easy way out?"

Without taking her eyes off the road, Rory replied instantly. "You aren't taking the easy way out. If it was the easy way out then you wouldn't feel so much pain from it, you would feel free. Do I think you made the right decision? In a way, yes. You did what was best for not only yourself but for Lucy. Staying married like that is only hurting her. I mean you hear the questions she's asked me. But in a way I don't think it was the best decision. This whole package is something that you worked so hard to get and you're letting one obstacle, although it is rather large, stand in the way."

Lorelai turned her head and looked straight ahead. "So I'm not the only one with those thoughts..."

"Hey, we made a list, remember? And it made more sense to you to end things rather than live in misery everyday. If I were you, I would have made the same decision as you. As much as you try, you can never find the right way to justify everything Luke as put you through. I've watched you for months as you tried to think something up."

Again Lorelai's eyes were on her daughter. "And this is why you're graduating from Yale next year."


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1**

**javajunkieobsessed: I definitely have some flashbacks coming your way in future chapters. **

**droolia: Thank you for the review :) I hope to have years of writing ahead of me because not only do I hope to keep my fictions going on during college but am also majoring in English. As for creative writing: if/when the time comes I will definitely turn in a fanfiction for an assignment, but so far I've only used bits and pieces of my fictions into the writing assignments given. By the way, I love all of the reviews you leave!**

**To everyone else that has reviewed: thank you so much! **

Chapter 6

Luke sat on the porch of his house waiting for the blue Prius to pull into view. Since finding out that Lorelai left Lucy with the elder Gilmores, Luke was furious. It was like she was pushing him out of his daughter's life. He stood up when he saw the small car drive up behind Lorelai's yellow jeep.

As the Crap Shack came into view, Lorelai groaned loudly. Looking to her left, Rory realized why There Luke stood, hands on his hips looking furious.

"So I'm going to stay in the car..." Rory started off, knowing that she did not want to witness the guaranteed fight between Luke and her mother.

"No. You go and pick Lucy up. Take her out to do whatever. Here, take my credit card. I'll call you when you can come back, okay?"

Rory gave a short nod as Lorelai got out of the vehicle.

Lorelai's arms flew up to her head as she stared at Luke. "What are you doing here?"

Ignoring the question, Luke started his rant. "You think you can just go out of town without telling me, your husband? Better yet you can't even give me a call to tell me that my daughter is staying with her grandparents! She is my daughter too, Lorelai! I should have had her while you went out of town. It's not like I'm going to forget to feed her! I never see her anymore and that's because of you!" Luke had finished with his finger pointing in Lorelai's face.

"First of all, get your finger out of my face. I can leave anytime I want-I don't answer to other people! And sorry for wanting my daughter in the hands of someone that actually cares! Do you know why you haven't seen her in months, Luke? Because you're always off do this or that with April! It's like Lucy, that's her name by the way, doesn't even exist to you anymore. It is one thing when you won't let me near your child but it's another thing to keep her sister away. It's not like Lucy can steal the love April has for you that I would apparently steal. You may not forget to feed her but what you do forget is that Lucy is an actual person, a person who needs constant care and attention-attention that you won't give to her." Lorelai walked past Luke and stormed into the house. Daringly, Luke followed.

"So what, you're just going to keep my four-year-old away from me? Real mature, Lorelai. That is so typical of you! You can never be an adult about something."

Fury grew in her eyes. "Excuse me? I can never be an adult? I'm sorry, who is the person caring for Lucy everyday? Who is the one trying to make you sound like the man you were to a little girl that keeps asking where her dad is? Who is taking responsibility for everything in our situation? Me. I'm doing all of it. Who is the person forgetting they have a family? Who is the person jealous of their daughter spending time with her grandparents? Who is the person who is scared to let his wife and daughter in the same vicinity of their long-lost daughter? You. Tell me, Luke who is taking on more in this situation?"

"Playing the single mom card again? Original."

"No, actually I wasn't. I'm doing what people call reasonable. I've never played the single mom card."

"Right so you always just start crying over money situations because no one is around to help you."

Quickly, Lorelai turned around to face Luke. "That was not playing the single mom card. That was me talking to the person who I thought was my best friend. You're the one that asked me what was wrong. You know I bottled everything up inside of me for years making ends meet! Everyone walks around with their mood written on their face! I'm appalled that you even think I would use any of my kids as an excuse for any bad situations I find myself in. You're the one man I could trust, the one man I thought would never lie to me, the one man I thought would never hurt me. But I was wrong. You're just like any other man on this planet."

* * *

Next door, Patty and Babette were sitting out on Babette's patio. Given the close proximity to Lorelai's house, they overheard every word spoken.

"That doesn't sound good," Babette commented.

"I really had hopes of them staying together..."

"Should we cancel the pool? 'Cause from the sounds of it, there isn't going to be a make-up." Just as Babette finishes, Luke's yelling was heard.

"I'm not signing the damn papers! We are not getting divorced!"

"There goes any hope I had. It's such a same. Remember how happy they were when they first began dating?" Patty commented.

_Lorelai walked into the diner with a true smile on her face. It was the first time in days since she had really smiled, unless it was directed at her daughter. Today was the day of Lorelai Gilmore's first date with Luke Danes. _

_Lorelai and Rory had known Luke two months prior, as they had met him in Dooses' market soon after moving into the Crap Shack. Lorelai and Luke had gotten to talking and as their conversation ended, Luke offered Lorelai and Rory lunch on the house at the diner. In the two months that led up to the first date, Luke and Lorelai had became best friends. _

_From the start, Rory was happy for Lorelai. For once, her mother had a best friend that wasn't a child. And now with the blossoming relationship, there was a chance for Rory to have a father. _

_In the months following that first date, Lorelai and Rory would eat at the diner at least once a day. The once grumpy Luke Danes was always a ray of sunshine...until Taylor or Kirk walked in. Lorelai always had a smile on her face, even on her worst days because she knew at the end of the day, she had Rory and Luke to look forward to. _

"The were one hell of a couple," Babette finished just in time as Luke stormed out of the house. As his truck sped out into the distance, a loud crash came from inside Lorelai's house. Immediately, the two older women snuck their way over. From the outside, the could see Lorelai slumped over on the couch, head in her hands as her elbows rested on her knees. Surrounding her were shards of glass. They hesitantly walked up to the door and knocked.

A red-eyed Lorelai answered the door within a minute and stared at the two town gossips as if she had never seen them before. "You okay, sugar?"

Wiping her eyes clear, Lorelai depressingly answered. "I'm fine, really. Just uh...dropped something."

* * *

Rory was getting worried as she didn't receive a call from Lorelai yet. Lucy was restless and fell asleep in her car seat so Rory decided to just head home. She found Babette waiting outside on her patio.

"Rory! Sweetheart!" Babette exclaimed while she ran over to Rory.

"Yeah, Babette?"

"Your mother...she wouldn't let us in but Patty and I heard crashing coming from the house after Luke left. I don't think it's a good idea for Lucy to go in there until you know the damage. We tried to get in but she wouldn't budge. Poor thing was red-eyed and white as a ghost." Rory passed off the sleeping form of Lucy to Babette as she darted for her house. Inside she found what Babette was talking about.

Surrounding the living room were shards off glass from picture frames, and the frames were scattered throughout the room. By the window, a lamp was knocked over, replaced by a pillow. Normally in a fit of rage, Lorelai would just storm up to her room, slam the door and throw herself in bed. Rory began to clean up the mess and as she did so, she took a look at the photographs that once lived in the broken frames. Sure enough they were pictures that Lorelai had kept out to simply help her remember the happy times...so all in all, pictures of Lorelai and Luke.

Lorelai had heard the front door open from where she stood in her bedroom. Silently, she made her way towards the stairs. Once reaching the end of the staircase, Lorelai saw Rory cleaning up the disaster left from her outburst. "Rory, stop. I'll clean it up."

"What the hell happened in here? Babette told me about a fight with Luke and then hearing crashing coming from over here."

"Luke and I got in this fight over my leaving Lucy with my parents. It escaladed into something so stupid. He stormed out and I don't know, I just...flipped out." By this point, Lorelai was on the floor helping Rory sweep up the mess of glass. "I did some thinking after I went upstairs..."

"That's never good."

"Yeah, well. Seriously though, I think I made a mistake. I love him. And I don't think anything can end it. I don't want to divorce him. Should I have been more understanding about the whole situation? Yeah, probably. I need to make things right. He already said he wasn't signing the divorce papers."

Rory put down the dust pan and stared at her mother. "He's your lobster!"

"What the hell are we, in a _Friends_ episode?"

"Might as well be! This is like Rachel realizing she was in love with Ross when she was on the plane to Paris. At least in your case you don't have to fight your way off of a plane!"

"Geez, Rory! Are you okay with finishing up with this mess? I need to go work this out with Luke."

"Go, go, go! I'll handle all of this!" When Lorelai was out the door, Rory smiled to herself. "Oh they are so each others lobsters."

* * *

After telling Rory how she really felt, Lorelai raced her way to the middle of town. For once in her life, Lorelai Gilmore found running useful. Catching her breath, Lorelai made her way to the diner-the building that seemed forbidden for so long. Patty, with a smile on her face, watched Lorelai make her way to the diner. Oh how happy she was they didn't cancel the pool. It was then that she looked in the diner's window and her smile faded into a frown.

The bells rang out announcing her first appearance in the establishment in months. Lorelai knew it was the lull between lunch and dinner so she would be catching Luke at the perfect time. That idea soon faded when she saw the company Luke had.

So concentrated on his guest, Luke hadn't even noticed Lorelai's arrival.

**A/N: Has anyone ever watched _Friends_?** **I've just finished watching every season straight through and I am obsessed. By the fourth season, it made it's way into my favorite top five television shows. Anyway, you all can probably guess who the visitor is I just didn't reveal it in this chapter because it makes up most of chapter 7.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1**

Chapter 7

Lorelai stood outside the diner's door staring at Luke. There he sat with a shit-eating grin on his face as _she_ was talking to him.

Not only was Anna verbally talking to him, but she was physically talking to him. Lorelai just wanted to scream at her to get her hands off of her husband.

But she couldn't. The words wouldn't come out. Lorelai released the handle of the door and began walking in the direction of her house, unnoticed by Luke. Silent tears streamed down her face. When she reached the house, Lorelai walked in the foyer and kicked her shoes off. She found Rory sitting in the living room, Lucy sleeping on her lap.

"Not my lobster," Lorelai mumbled as she ran up the stairs leaving Rory to wonder what she was talking about.

Rory sat on the couch looking down at her sister who was sleeping peacefully. She wanted this whole situation over with. It was summer, the time she, Lucy and Lorelai were supposed to have fun together but instead it has been spent dreading the days to come or consoling Lorelai after yet another fight with Luke. The whole thing was becoming tiresome. Why couldn't Luke just realize what he's doing? And she thought Lorelai going to the diner that day would lead the couple on the road to happiness, but it did just the opposite and it was killing Rory not knowing what happened.

Carefully, she picked Lucy up and placed her in Rory's room considering Lucy's room was in close quarters to Lorelai's and a conversation could start that young ears won't want to hear. Rory lightly knocked on the bedroom door. "Mom?"

"You can come in," was Lorelai's response. Rory walked in and found her mother folding laundry.

"So, what happened? I thought you went to go talk to Luke..."

Putting the laundry down, Lorelai looked at Rory. "Oh, I went to talk to him. I just never got around to the actual entering the diner part."

"And may I ask why?"

"Anna was there. She was there and she was touching his arm and he was smiling at whatever the hell it was she was talking about. I wish I could have wiped that grin right off his face. I just...I saw her there and left. So you're wrong, we're not Ross and Rachel."

"Maybe you should have went in? You know actually know what happened rather than assume what happened. I think you guys just have some obstacles to overcome. Soon he'll realize what he did."

* * *

Luke was cleaning up the diner preparing for the dinner rush to start when he heard the bells jingle above the door. He hoped it was Lorelai that walked through, but it wasn't. His glum face stared at the woman that walked in.

"Hey, Anna..."

"I just came by to pick up a bag April forgot here the other day."

"Right, right. I'll go get it."

As Luke left to retrieve the bag, Anna took a seat on a stool and happened to take a glance at the papers lying on the counter. There was a stack of papers and from the envelope lying next to them, she assumed they were divorce documents. On top of the stack though was Lorelai's letter to Luke. Anna was able to read it through twice before Luke reappeared in the diner. He took a seat on the stool next to Anna and noticed she was looking at the pile of documents.

"A divorce, huh?"

"Yeah. But I'm not signing the papers. I was just finding the letter she wrote hoping I could find something in it to help me make things right."

Anna nodded and looked at Luke. "You haven't let her or Lucy around April?"

"It's complicated! And I keep trying to tell everyone that but they won't listen! Rory's best friend said something to me about it. Everyone is always on Lorelai's side!"

"I'm sorry, but I would have to take Lorelai's side too. Luke, it has been half a year since you met April. Last month you went on a class trip with her. I think it's past the time for you to allow April to meet your family. Lorelai is right; you shouldn't have been trying to figure out how they would fit into April's life. It should be the other way around. Look, I'm not telling you what to do, but I think it's about time you let both lives you have collide together. They're your family, Luke. Don't spoil something good just because you want something all to yourself. Besides, April has been raving about Lorelai and Lucy-at least from what she has heard from everyone in town." Anna put a hand on Luke's arm. "Let them meet. Stop living two lives and return to the old Luke that Lorelai misses. I would hate for April to be the reason why a marriage is broken." Gathering April's bag, Anna took one last look at Luke before leaving. "Don't wait too long."

He smiled at the words Anna spoke, but when she left, Luke sat in the diner frozen. Had he really been that horrible? He thought back to everything he's heard around town-the most recent being a fit Lorelai through after he left the house. Luke sat there in thought. The last few months replaying in his head. It was then he realized what an ass he was being. He made life hell for Lorelai and he couldn't even imagine how he made life for Lucy. Before Luke could do anything else, he realized it had been quite sometime since he sat down and noticed dinner rush would begin soon.

* * *

Deciding she wanted to get out of the house, Lorelai went into the living room where her two daughters sat. Rory was sitting patiently on the floor playing with Lucy.

"Hey, why don't we go out somewhere for dinner. And then maybe a movie or something after?" Lorelai suggested desperate to leave Stars Hollow for a few hours.

"Les go then! I'm hungry!"

Lorelai and Rory couldn't help but laugh at the four-year-old who had just decided on their evening plans. "I guess we're going out then." Rory said.

After a night out in Hartford, Rory decided to spend the night at Lane's while Lorelai spent the rest of the night with Lucy, something the two of them haven't done since summer began. It was well past nine and since it was summer, Lorelai decided that one night of a missed bedtime wouldn't be so bad for her daughter so they sat on the floor of Lucy's room playing any game that the young girl came up with. There was a knock at the door putting a hold on their 'play time'. Lorelai decided to take Lucy with her and so she made her way down the stairs with Lucy on her back.

On the other side of the door stood Luke. Lucy, who was still on her mother's back piggy-back style, tightened her arms around Lorelai's neck. Lorelai stood in shock. Although she was still fuming over the day's events, Lorelai gently placed Lucy back on the floor.

"Go back upstairs. Mommy will come back in a little while, okay?"

In the smallest voice Lorelai had ever heard coming from her little girl, Lucy replied, "Okay," before walking up the stairs. After watching her daughter carefully climb the stairs, Lorelai turned back around to look at Luke.

"Luke..."

**A/N: I hope this chapter doesn't disappoint. I thought hard about this chapter. Originally I had Anna there trying to get together with Luke but I wanted someone from outside of the situation (and town) to give Luke a reality check. And I am so happy that my Friends reference was well liked! College applications are finally finished, there is not one trace of homework left and no writers block so hopefully I can give you an update tomorrow**


	8. Chapter 8

**So as I write this I am supposed to be working on a short story for my creative writing class (a project in which I am submitting a completely revised version of 'Together Again'. Anyway, sorry it's been months since the last update. College stuff plus keeping up with my AP work along with tutoring and babysitting = a stressed senior. But as I think of ways to revise the fic completely, I was stumped and starting writing this chapter instead. With the school year winding down, I am hoping to be able to update a lot to make up for lost time, but I'm not making any promises this time! **

**Also: Thank you for all the reviews :) I'm happy so many of you are enjoying the story. **

Chapter 8

_On the other side of the door stood Luke. Lucy, who was still on her mother's back piggy-back style, tightened her arms around Lorelai's neck. Lorelai stood in shock. Although she was still fuming over the days events, Lorelai gently placed Lucy back on the floor. _

_"Go back upstairs. Mommy will come back in a little while, okay?"_

_In the smallest voice Lorelai had ever heard coming from her little girl, Lucy replied, "okay," before walking up the stairs. After watching her daughter carefully climb the stairs, Lorelai turned back around to look at Luke._

_"Luke..."_

"What are you doing here?" Lorelai asked rather impatiently. After seeing him in the diner with Anna, Lorelai had no interest in talking to Luke at the moment. What could he even say to justify himself?

Luke looked at Lorelai with a small smile on his face the was not returned to him. He rubbed the back of his neck before replying. "Anna was in the diner today. She saw the divorce papers on the counter."

Arching an eyebrow, curious as to where he was heading, Lorelai tapped her foot on the porch's floor. "Yeah, and? What could be so important of her to say that has you actually coming by the house wanting to talk?"

"She basically told me how stupid I was acting. Anna also said that she wouldn't want April to be the reason for a broken marriage. She suggested you and Lucy meet April. She wasn't scared or anything about having you around April..."

Fury built in Lorelai's eyes. So he was only here because Anna had advised him. Just because he had the Anna stamp of approval he was willing to allow everyone to meet. "So you're only here because Anna suggested it, am I right?"

"No. I came here because I want you to know that there will be no divorce. I am still all in! I want to be here with you and Lucy."

What did she want? Lorelai didn't even know anymore. "Look, it's nice of you to finally come around to that decision, but I can't accept it right now as much as I want to. You hurt us, Luke. I have a daughter upstairs that asked for you every night before bed for two months; she eventually figured out that you wouldn't be there anymore. I have dealt with all of her questions and heartbreak for six months. What do I tell her now? That her dad is going to be around all the time again? No, I can't do that; no until I'm sure. And don't forget that you hurt me too, Luke. You were the one man that was always there for me and never dreamed of hurting me, but you eventually ended up doing it anyway..."

Irritation grew in Luke. "What are you saying exactly?"

"I'm saying that everything isn't going to be sunshine and roses at the snap of your fingers! Just because you want it doesn't mean you're going to get it! You have to wait until you earn my trust back. And, no, I don't know when that will be. Look, we'll start out small, I guess. You can start keeping Lucy for an hour or two each day if that's what she wants. I'm not forcing my four-year-old into something she feels uncomfortable with."

"She shouldn't feel uncomfortable with her father!"

"Well whose fault is that? Not mine, I tried to make you seem like a great guy when she asked where you were. Now, if you'll excuse me, I have some explaining to do to my daughter."

"Well I want to be there! God only knows what you're going to put in her head!"

Lorelai bitterly laughed. Was he really arguing this right now? "You really think I'm that kind of person? In all the years you have known me you think I could turn your daughter against you? No, Luke. I'm talking to her alone so I know that she is fully opening up and not just saying anything because you're there. I'll call you tomorrow and tell you how it went."

* * *

Lucy was upstairs cleaning up some stray toys that had been scattered around the room, only leaving out what she and Loreai had been playing with. When she heard Lorelai's footsteps walking towards the bedroom, she sat back down on the floor waiting for her mother's entrance. She didn't know why her dad showed up and she didn't know why she felt so shy around him.

"Lucy, baby, I want to talk to you about something," Lorelai stated as she sat on the floor pulling her daughter in her lap at the same time.

"Okay, Mommy."

Lorelai let out a nervous breath before she began to speak. "So I was just talking to Daddy. He wants to start hanging out with us again. How do you feel about that?"

In her small voice, Lucy replied. "I don't know."

"Well, would you want to start staying at the diner with Daddy for a couple hours everyday?"

Tears filled Lucy's eyes. "All by myself? What if he forgets about me like he already has?"

Noticing the tears that welled up in her daughter's eyes, Lorelai gently swiped them away. "He won't forget about you. Daddy even wants you to meet April. You remember her, don't you?"

"NO! I don't like her! Daddy isn't here because of April, Mommy. She's the reason why you're sad all the time!"

The inital shock of Lucy's outburst left Lorelai only for her to soothingly rub Lucy's back. "No, baby, she's not the reason why Daddy did that. He didn't mean to. April is really excited about meeting you; you'll have another big sister just like Rory."

"But I only want Rory."

Sensing Lucy was about to cry, Lorelai ended the discussion only to save it for tomorrow. Lorelai kissed Lucy's forehead and carried her to the master bedroom so Lucy could sleep with the comfort of Lorelai.

* * *

The next day was slow for Luke as he waited Lorelai's phone call. He wanted Lorelai to call him last night and give her final answer, but that hadn't happened. Who was he kidding, Lucy probably didn't even want to see him, Luke thought. He was brought out of his thoughts when Lorelai walked through the door of the diner.

"I know I said I would call, but I felt like this was something to do in person. Upstairs?"

"Yeah, sure. I'll be up in a minute." When Lorelai started up the stairs, Luke began to pour a coffee into a mug for Lorelai wondering just how bad the situation was. When he entered the apartment, Lorelai was sitting on the couch.

"It's weird to be up here. I mean it's been quite some time since I've last seen the place," Lorelai said to start off with small talk but immeditately regretted it as it sounded like she was referring to the past months. "I mean...it's been what? Almost a year since I was last up here?" That was her hopeful way of fixing her slip of the tongue.

"Yeah. Sounds about right."

"Let's just get to it. Lucy isn't comfortable. We have to ease her into it. She almost cried last night as we talked. You have to explain to her yourself where you've been. She's blaming April, which I told her wasn't true. I told her that you didn't mean to, only for Lucy's sake."

Luke's face dropped when Lorelai reported their new predicament. "My own daughter hates me."

Lorelai's face softened. "She doesn't hate you. She just has to get familiar with you being around. Don't take it so hard, she'll come around. And...eventually, I'll come around too. But I'm not ready to jump back in your arms just yet."

"So what are you suggesting?"

"Maybe we, the three of us, spend some time together then from there we'll ease her into accepting April. She needs to know that you're not going to leave like that again."

"I guess..."


	9. Chapter 9

**I love all of these reviews! Thank you guys so much for reading the story :) **

**Some reviews I'm going to address are as followed:**

**To the Guest reviewer: I can assure you 100% that there will be no pregnancy. It would be completely irrelevant to the story. Also, there will be no vow renewal only because WBB is one of my least favorite episodes (i.e the first break up).**

**Droolia: Thank you for wishing me good luck! I have heard back from one college, my top choice, and I was accepted. Recently I found a roommate who loves GG so we see many marathons coming our way along with many other things we have in common. **

**Grumpy Guest: You were literally spot-on with the new update! **

Chapter 9

Lorelai looked at Luke, her eyes squinted. "You guess? Luke, I'm not going to put in any effort here if you're not sure about any of this. So tell me now before I waste my time."

"What do you expect my reaction to be, Lorelai? How would you feel if it was Lucy turning against you? I'm standing here right now asking myself why she doesn't want me around her!"

"I do know how it feels to have my daughter turn against me; are you forgetting when Rory just up and left for Europe with my mother? She told me she hated me and then left. I expect your reaction to be determined to win your four-year-old back, but instead you're just going to give up? You know what, I have to go. We should have done this over the phone so I could definitely ignore the urge to hit you."

Lorelai left the diner just as quick as she had came in. Rory had taken Lucy for the day for what she called a sisters day. And honestly, Lorelai felt her little girl needed it. It wasn't fair for the girl to be without a father. But Luke had created the problem and now it's his job to fix it. Lorelai really didn't want to play mediator, she especially didn't want to push Lucy into something she wasn't ready for.

Feeling a migraine coming on from the days events, Lorelai decided to head on home to try and prevent the ache from growing larger than need be.

* * *

Per Lucy's request, Rory took her to the playground for a couple of hours until they both grew hungry. Now, the two sisters sat in a small diner in Hartford. Lucy seemed distracted since they had sat down as Rory watched her.

"Rory," Lucy said catching her sister's attention. "My Daddy came over last night."

Rory had already knew about the surprise visit, as Lorelai had already filled her in, but acted surprised when her sister spoke. "He did?"

"Yeah. Mommy said he wants to see me, but I don't want to. He made Mommy sad and he just went away without saying goodbye to me."

The young girl's confession broke Rory's heart. There was no need for a four-year-old to be going through daddy issues at this age. Then again, Rory could relate because Christopher had done the same thing to Rory all her life.

"I'm sure he didn't mean to. Besides, people deserve second chances...do you know what that means?"

"No."

Rory looked at her sister trying to find the easiest way to explain. "Well, it's when someone is really, really mad at another person and doesn't want to see them anymore. But then, they decide to forgive the person they're mad at."

"Oh. Daddy isn't getting a second chance. I don't want him to hurt Mommy again."

"Lucy, our Mom is very strong. She can handle anything. She raised me all by herself when she was still a kid herself. I think you should let your Daddy have another chance to make you happy."

"No, it's okay. I have Mommy."

Rory decided to give up on the subject knowing that Lucy was as stubborn as herself and Lorelai.

* * *

She was tired of the fighting. Whenever she had seen Luke lately, they got into a heated argument. Lorelai decided that even if he did want to try and win Lucy back that they wouldn't be able to ease into anything until she and Luke were able to be around each other without fighting. It would take some time, considering Lorelai wasn't really ready to go back to Luke yet, but hopefully they would get there soon. She had only suggested the three of them going out together for Lucy's sake, so the four-year-old could have some comfort around her when she was with Luke.

Lorelai could see the hurt in Luke's face when she told him about Lucy's reaction, but she couldn't bring herself to sympathize him. But in that moment, she knew that she had to do something to make her daughter see the good in seeing Luke again.

Lorelai had only been able to stay at home for two hours before driving herself crazy with her thoughts, so she headed off to the Dragonfly to talk with Sookie.

"She was just so persistent on not seeing him...I don't know how to talk her into going around him. On one hand I can understand where she's coming from; if my dad had done that to me, I wouldn't have wanted to be near him, but on the other, I want her to be near Luke. I know he hasn't shown it lately, but he loves us. That girl means everything to him. It's probably killing him-her reaction towards him."

Sookie placed down the batter she had been creating once Lorelai finished her rant. "Is there anything around the house you can show her that will show her how much she means to Luke? Something from your pregnancy or after she was born?"

Shrugging her shoulders, Lorelai looked at Sookie. "Probably. I mean I can look, but I'm not sure what I'm going to find. Maybe my parents have something. Do you think I forgave him too fast?"

"You said it yourself; you're not fully forgiving him, the only reason you're talking to him as of now is Lucy. I feel that with time, you two will be the couple you once were before all of this happened."

"I hope so. I guess I better get home before Rory gets back with Lucy so I can start looking for something to show the kid. Hey, maybe Rory has something."

**A/N: So the school year is basically at an end, so I'm hoping of updating frequently after graduation. I have an idea on where I want chapter 10 to go, but I want opinions on what you think should happen-credit will be given to ideas that I use. Also, if you go on my profile, you will see that I deleted about half of my stories-that's because I deleted those that were on hiatus and decided to re-upload them after I have rewritten them.**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1**

**Okay, so luckily for me, the school year is basically over, we're just prepping for graduation. I have been writing ideas down for this story when I think of them, but I always appreciate ideas in reviews. I hope to be able to update frequently throughout the summer-at least until I'm getting ready to leave for college (mid/end of August). **

**Droolia: When I was little I was always around my cousin who is 9 years older than me and she watched the show all the time. And my mom watched it a few times as well. I was really shocked with my roommate knowing the show because I talk about GG in front of my friends and they're just like..."I never even heard of it", but my roommate was like "Yeah! I love that show, Friends too" definitely happy with that. **

**Grumpy Guest: "What is wrong with this guy not putting any effort into anything more complicated than an order for a stack of pancakes"- one of my favorite reviews on any of the fics I've written. **

**Nzlouise: At the time I said no to any pregnancies because I had a few stories up in which Lorelai was pregnant or had recently had a child, so I felt it was a bit overboard. However, since I took them down in order to re-write them, anything is possible now. But I love your ideas and I really do want to try an incorporate them in some way. **

**In honor of June 3rd I figured I'd post some chapters today. First up: LL based chapter. **

Chapter 10

Lorelai searched high and low in her house looking for anything to show Lucy that Luke does care for her, but she was coming up empty. Did she really not have anything? She kept looking though because she knew there had to be something. Lorelai already had one photo album ready in case Lucy asked for proof of Luke loving Lorelai-their wedding album and video, she just needed proof of Luke loving Lucy.

Coming up with nothing, Lorelai decided, in one last desperate attempt, to look in her closet. She thought that maybe there was a box hidden of old memories. That's when she found it. Lucy's baby box. It held several items, sonogram/ultrasound pictures, everyone's hospital bracelets from Lucy's birth, photos of the day Lucy was born. Surely this had to have some effect on the girl. Granted Lorelai knew her daughter wouldn't be able to fully grasp the objective of why everything holds meaning.

Though she succeeded in finding what she was looking for, Lorelai would have to wait a little longer to show Lucy since Rory had just called her about visiting Emily and Richard who Lucy wanted to stay over night with. At first Lorelai was against it considering this would be the first night she was alone since everything started with Luke many months ago, but in the end let her daughter stay with her grandparents so someone in the family could be happy...and so she could buy herself more time in finding an explanation for Lucy.

Lorelai sat on the couch going through Lucy's baby box when there was a knock at the door. Placing the box on the table, Lorelai slowly got up and made her way to the door. When she opened it, she was shocked to see the silloute of Luke. She stood with the door open, staring at Luke with arched eyebrows.

"I want to figure everything out," was blurted out.

Lorelai opened the door fully, allowing Luke enough space to walk in. Both made their way into the living room. Sitting down on the couch, Luke noticed the box.

"What's all of this?"

Lorelai glanced at the coffee table as she sat down on the opposite end of the couch, away from Luke as she was still wary on trusting him. "I was looking through Lucy's baby box. I was trying to find anything to show her so she could see how much you really do love her." Lorelai looked at Luke just in time to catch a pained expression casting over her husband's face.

"I know I've been horrible, but I don't want her to hate me." Lorelai could hear the dread in his voice, the sadness that Luke tried to hide.

Grabbing his hands lightly, Lorelai made Luke look at her. "She does _not_ hate you. She's just scared. I think this is her way of keeping herself from getting hurt. She's like her mother; shutting people out to avoid any pain. But Luke, she could never hate you. I know Lucy says you don't love her, but she knows that's not true. She's only four, she doesn't know everything that's going on. I promise you, no one hates you."

"How do I fix it? What can I do that she will actually allow me to do?"

"Luke, I'm here and I am going to help you. We're going to fix this _together_. Lucy and Rory are staying with my parents tonight because Emily and Richard wanted them to or something, so we have time to figure out what to do. I mean we can't just throw this on her..."

"No, then she really will hate me."

"Luke, Lucy doesn't hate you. No one hates you. Frustrated maybe, but not hate. Now, I have some beer in the fridge that we are going to drink while we finish looking through this box together then we'll figure out how to fix this."

Sometime late in the night, Luke and Lorelai were just finishing looking at all things Lucy. From her baby box to every picture they had documented of their little girl; with every picture, there was a specific memory. With the couple reliving the memories, their reminiscing took them well into the night.

It felt good to Lorelai for her to look back on old memories with the person she vowed to be with forever and it was then, where the two of them sat on the couch talking about each part of their daughter's life and personality, that Lorelai realized that she wouldn't have been able to go through a divorce with Luke. She wouldn't have been able to part ways with her soul mate, to only see him when their daughter was involved. And she knew that things were going to have to change so they could have a balanced family again.

But she couldn't help but question if she was forgiving Luke too soon. Sure she was still furious, and he had lost most of her trust that has yet to be won back, but she still couldn't shake the feeling that she was being too easy on him. Maybe he needed to go through some of the pain she endured over the course of the past half year? Lorelai knew she would never be able to do that to him, that he was already in enough pain as it was believing that Lucy hated him. And she definitely saw why he could believe that. Their daughter definitely inherited both of their stubbornness and when she was in a bad mood or not liking something, Lucy was cold, hard ice. That's why Lorelai was the buffer. She had to fix that gap between father and daughter because as much as it was killing Luke to be away from Lucy, it was killing Lorelai to have to witness her daughter acting out against her father.

"How about we talk about how to fix things with Lucy in the morning? It's getting late."

Luke began to get up from his place on the couch and toward the door. "Yeah, okay. Tomorrow then." But he was stopped when Lorelai grabbed his arm.

"Look, I know we're not back to us yet, and that I'm still a little frustrated, but this is technically your house too. And maybe you should start getting used to sleeping at home?" It was wishful thinking and worth the risk of anything that could come of it. Noticing the hesitant look on Luke's face, Lorelai quickly added, "nothing is going to happen, Luke. We're just going to be a married couple sleeping in the same bed, as most couples do. No funny business." With that reassurance, Luke followed Lorelai up to what will be known as their bedroom from now on.

**A little fluff, but not everything is fixed. This is definitely not the end of the story or even close to it (I think, it depends on how the next few chapters play out). But I figure, you know June 3rd and everything **


	11. Chapter 11

**GUYS MY FRIEND FIGURED OUT ASP'S LAST FOUR WORDS (in our opinion). If you watch the reunion on EW's website, at the end of the video she says "I got so lucky." Lauren says she would want either her character or one of the other characters to speak them and honestly it fits all the each chracter's storyline. **

**Thank you for the reviews. I want to clear something up that I should have included in the last chapter.**

**Lucy's box does include pictures of her and Luke. **

**Droolia: Believe me, I would have been long gone as well! However, I wanted Lorelai to stay mature over the whole situation for the sake of Lucy. Lorelai is definitely not sure if Luke is going to hurt them again which is why she's still cautious around him. His hesitation was over him not neing sure if Lorelai really wanted him there.**

**nzlouise: I started going in the direction of your idea but stopped myself. I am definitely going to try and include your idea soon or alternate it in some way but I will be giving you full credit for the idea :)**

**Sorry about all of the confusion**

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1**

Chapter 11:

Waking up the next morning, Lorelai looked over at Luke who lay beside her. she would be lying if she said she didn't miss this closeness between them, but she was still keeping her distance as she did not fully trust Luke yet. Maybe if it was just her getting her she would have been able to forgive him completely, but in his actions, he hurt her baby girl-something she would not tolerate. It was her job as a mother to keep her children safe, which she has been doing. Thought she van see that her keeping Lucy away from Luke wasn't as good an idea as she had originally thought.

She was taken out of her thoughts when Luke began stirring in bed next to her. He rolled over so he was facing Lorelai.

"Hi there. How's it feel waking up here again?"

"Different. Good different."

"I'm glad. So, I was thinking...maybe we can do a family day. Me, you, Lucy and maybe Rory all together maybe spending the day in Hartford or something? Maybe if Rory and I are nearby Lucy will be a little more cooperative."

"At this point, I'm willing to try anything. I just want my family back."

"Prove it to her, Luke. If she sees that maybe she'll come around faster than we expect."

* * *

As the saying goes, hope brings eternal misery. That's how Luke could explain his mood after their attempt at getting Lucy to open up. She definitely was a stubborn one like Luke and Lorelai agreed on. During their outing, Lucy stayed close to Lorelai and Rory; choosing to walk in between her mother and sister or sitting next to Rory at lunch. It was a failure on all counts and at the moment, Luke was sure his family would never be the same again.

This afternoon he realized how much he really put his family through. Each conversation-or fight-Luke had with Lorelai that led up to divorce papers, Luke thought she was exaggerating like she was known for. But seeing Lucy's reaction when Luke was around, that's when it hit him, how serious he messed up his family.

Lorelai insisted that Luke go back to the diner so she could talk to Lucy without Luke overhearing therefore leading up to more heartbreak, so that's why Luke was in his office above the diner reflecting on what led up to Lucy's behavior.

* * *

Back at the house, Rory left the house to see Lane in order to give Lorelai the time alone she needed to talk to Lucy while Lorelai sat on the floor in Lucy's room.

"Luce, do you know how much your Daddy wants to see you?"

"He saw me today. I don't want to see him no more."

Lorelai sighed, defeated. Oh how her children were as stubborn as her. "But your Daddy misses you and he wants to be with you all the time."

Crossing her arms over her chest as she had seen Lorelai do multiple times, Lucy looked at Lorelai. "He made you sad. I don't like you being sad."

Smiling a little, Lorelai held her arms out for Lucy to sit on her lap. "Is that why you don't want to see Daddy?" Lorelai felt her nod her head slightly. "Well Daddy said sorry to me. He doesn't make me sad anymore."

"He made me sad," the girl said when her head was leaning on Lorelai's chest.

Her heartbroke at that very second. Of course she had known her daughter had been upset at Luke's actions but to hear her voice it was something completely different. "Well, that's why he's trying to see you all the time. He wants to make you feel better."

* * *

Luke looked at the door of the office as he heard a couple knocks. Getting up to answer the door, he was shocked to see Lorelai standing there was Lucy on her hip.

"Someone wants to see her daddy," Lorelai spoke with a small smile etched on her face. When she placed Lucy on the floor, the child went and sat on the couch that still occupied the office. Lorelai looked at Luke. "I talked to her...convinced her to come see you. She's still a little cautious of this because, in her words, you made us sad. So I'm going to leave you two up here to talk while I sit down in the diner."

**Okay, I know this is really short, but I didn't want to go into the whole Luke/Lucy conversation in this chapter. I am going to try and have an update this weekend, but I can't make any promises because I have so much going on this week. **


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1**

**A/N: Sorry it's been so long! I've officially graduated last month and have been busy filling out paperwork for college. I have an outline for the next three chapters that I am writing as soon as I post this chapter. My goal is to finish this story by the end of July or beginning of August before college takes over my life. **

Chapter 12

To say Luke was surprised when Lorelai arrived with Lucy would be an understatement. Luke never thought Lorelai could get their child to agree to something so fast. Getting over his shock, Luke looked down at Lucy who looked as shy as can be-another punch in the gut to Luke-before looking at Lorelai.

"I'm just going to be down in the diner if you need me...let you two have some privacy that you need," Lorelai offered.

"Uh...um...okay."

As Lorelai left, Luke could feel the stare that his daughter's piercing blue eyes burned on him. He himself walked over to the living room portion of the once office-turned-apartment and sat on the couch giving a distance between the pair.

"Look, Lucy, I know you're upset over everything that has happened recently. But I'm here now...and I want to make it better."

"You made Mommy cry. I don't like when people make her cry. She told me you didn't make her sad anymore."

"I don't like when people make Mommy cry either. But I also don't like it when you cry, and it makes me so sad to know that I made you cry."

"Mommy says you're trying to make it all better now. Are you?"

"I'm going to do anything it takes for you to like me again."

Lucy sat and stared at the wall. She had heard those words before. Back when Lorelai had a fight with Emily. Emily had told Lorelai those exact words. Only Lorelai didn't reply with silence, she gently told Emily that she didn't want to like her, she wanted to love her-and to feel like her love was wanted.

"I don't want to like you," Lucy stated blankly.

Luke's face dropped at his daughter's revealation until she spoke again. "I want to love you. Like Mommy said to Grandma. And now they're all better."

"Oh, they are, huh?" Not being around all that much, Luke hadn't been aware of any problems between Lorelai and her parents, or Lorelai and Rory. And hearing his daughter's statements, he wanted to know what they were fighting about that caused Lorelai to comeback with wanting to love Emily.

"Uh huh. Mommy even takes me over to Grandma and Grandpa's a lot. And Grandma takes us shopping. Grandpa and Mommy taught me how to swim one day."

Luke was glad to have his daughter open up to him, but he was also upset at hearing the stories she was recounting.

* * *

Later that night, Lorelai and Luke had just gotten Lucy to sleep, per the child's request. Knowing Luke wanted to talk, Lorelai motioned for him to follow her downstairs to the kitchen. She knew that Luke would want to work past everything, but she also knew that they couldn't do it by themselves. They were going to need professional help.

The couple sat in silence until Lorelai looked directly at Luke. "I want to get past this."

Luke tore his gaze away from the fridge at the sound of Lorelai's voice. "Well so do I. Let's talk it out."

"Luke, it's not that simple. We can't just talk it out like it was a small fight we had. What happened is huge. So huge that I filed for divorce, this whole situation almost broke us up. You're never going to fully understand the pain that I went through unless you live through it yourself, and frankly, I don't want you to."

"So then...what are you suggesting?"

"A marriage counselor. I've already looked into one, read reviews on her and everything. She seems good. People got a lot of positive results from her."

Luke shook his head. "I don't want my personal business aired out there."

"Luke, all of Stars Hollow knows what happened between us. They know of the divorce papers. You said you would do anything to fix this, well this is one small step toward fixing it," Lorelai stated before she walked away, leaving Luke alone downstairs.

* * *

It was unknown how long Luke sat there in the isolated kitchen by himself, as he was broken from his trance-like state of mind when Rory walked out of her bedroom and to the fridge grabbing a bottle of water. He decided then that he would ask one of the people closest to Lorelai on what to do.

"Hey, Rory?"

Rory turned from her place in the fridge to look at Luke. "Yeah?"

"How bad is it?"

"Remember two years ago when you and Mom were trying to have another baby? All the negative tests that came back?"

Luke winced at the memory. "Boy do I..."

"Up it by ten. She talked to me about the whole counselor situation. We talked about you reaction and everything. Plus I heard the conversation you two had. Being here throughout everything in the past few months...I think you should just take the plunge and go. So what's an hour or two of your life if it's going to get you your family back?"

**Super short, but it would be too long in my opinion for the LL counseling talk for this chapter. I think next chapter will be longer than this. Also, the talk with Lucy...I decided to make it that short and simple only because how much knowledge or experience would a 4 year old have on the subject?**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1**

**A/N: Next chapter is finished. The next few hapters are outlined, however I cannot give an exact time estimate on when I will be uploading them. Not only do I have to pack for college next month but also help pack up my house/ get settled into my new bedroom since my parents are moving to a new house as well (which I literally just found out). Also, if any words are misspelled, I have proof-read this, but some of my keys such as the C key keeps getting stuck and I may have missed a mistake or two. **

**Droolia: Your opinion made me even more excited to be branching out on my own next month! And you are correct-this experience is worse than the negative pregnancy tests. **

**DSLeo: April's appearance will be coming up shortly. **

**AWPuRpLePoPtArT: just re-watched that episode AGAIN in my Gilmore Girls marathon I having going on as I pack my room up. It makes me mad every time I watch it.**

**To everyone else that reviewed: Thank you :)**

Chapter 13

After Rory had went back into her room, Luke sat at the table contemplating on what his next move would be. On one hand he wanted to make everything better with his family, no matter what it took, but on the other, he wasn't too keen on the idea of some stranger knowing his personal business. He sat in the kitchen thinking over his options.

If he didn't go to therapy as Lorelai wanted, he would be risking everything he's ever wanted. Although, if he did go, he could get stuck with some Hartford busy-body invading his privacy. In the end, he knew he would have to have a long conversation with Lorelai.

He had decided that nothing would be resolved that night, so he got up to leave. As he was in the entry way, he thought about his current situation. Lorelai was right, he wasn't supposed to be living in his apartment again, he was supposed to be sleeping in the house they had renovated together next to his wife. Knowing she would more than likely not appreciate his late night visit to their bedroom, Luke grabbed blankets from the closet and spent the remainder of the night on the couch.

* * *

"Shh. We have to be really quiet because Daddy is sleeping. We're going to go outside and wait for Grandma and Grandpa to pick you up, okay?"

"Okay, Mommy," Lucy whispered back in an almost unaudible voice. "Is Rory going too?"

"No, she already left to go see Lane. It's just a Lucy day with the grandparents."

Luke was just waking up fifteen minutes later to Lorelai gently tapping his shoulder as she sat on the couch. She grabbed one of the two mugs she had placed on the table minutes ago.

"I brought you some tea. How late were you up? It's almost ten thirty."

Luke sat up and took the mug from Lorelai. "Thanks. Ten thirty, really? Must've stayed up late."

Lorelai nodded her head as she sat back further on the couch once Luke moved to a sitting postion. When she woke up this morning and found Luke on the couch, she knew they had some sort of big talk coming up. She thought their morning encounter would be awkward, but not this awkward. There was never a time since the day she met Luke that could be identified as awkward or weird. This was the type of awkward that made a person uncomfortable. Lorelai was sitting next to the man she vowed to be with forever and had no idea what to even say to him.

"I hope you don't mind me sleeping on the couch. I didn't want to go back to the apartment," Luke said wanting to break the silence.

"I figured. I didn't hear the door last night. Plus I heard you going through the closet. We have to move that Bop-It."

Luke grimaced, "I was hoping that didn't wake anyone up."

Lorelai shook her head. "I didn't fall asleep until late. So Lucy went out with my parents for the day..." she hoped Luke would take that as an invitation to finally give his thoughts on her idea, well technically Rory's idea.

* * *

Luke watched as Lorelai navigated to the counselor's web page. He still wasn't sure if he wanted to go through with that, but he wanted to read about the person he would be opening himself up to before he nixed the idea.

"Rory found her for me. I did more research after Rory gave me everything she gathered up on her. Anything in particular you're looking for?"

"I want to read what people think of this woman. If she really does help people out or makes their lives worse."

Lorelai had entered the page on which the reviews lived on and handed the computer to Luke. She tapped her fingers on her legs as she waited for him to finish reading. Going on ten minutes, Lorelai came to the conclusion that Luke was reading every review until he found a negative result so he could say no to going to marriage couseling. She was startled out of her thoughts when Luke shut the laptop's lid.

"Nothing. Not one bad review."

"So can we _finally_ discuss going to some sessions? You said you wanted everything fixed. Well there's your answer. This woman works wonders. My parents know people who used this woman. They stayed together and ended up having those kids they always wanted."

"Well what was their problems?"

"Consistent fighting over their troubles of conceiving. They were on the edge of divorce like we are and look at them now! Three kids since attending some sessions with this woman years ago."

* * *

She wan't sure how she did it, but Lorelai had convinced Luke to say yes to counseling. He called on made the appointment himself. And for the first time in months-when she wasn't with her kids-Loreai was happy. Her hopes of keeping her marriage together were finally alive again. Now she only hoped that they could make it through each session without blowing up at each other.

It was nearing dinner when Lorelai looked away from the television to Luke. "How about we go out tonight, me, you, Lucy and Rory? A nice, small family outing?" She didn't want to admit it, but even though she never had contact with April, she felt bad leaving her out of their family night plans. Another of her many hopes of counseling would be Luke allowing her and Lucy to be a part of his life with April.

Luke looked over at Lorelai and smiled. "That sounds good."

"Lucy should be back soon. Mom and Dad never feed her dinner when they have her all day so she can spend that time with me and Rory. And now you."

* * *

By five o'clock, Luke was pulling the Jeep into the parking lot of Sniffy's. Rory had suggested the well-known family restaurant after being assuring by her mother, then reassured by Luke, that chaos wouldn't break out; that they were working out their 'differences' as Lorelai worded it. Upon entering, Maisy had escorted the family of four to a secluded table. Once sitting, Luke and Lorelai shared a small smile as they remembered Maisy sat them in the same seats she had on their first date. Lucy was talking about her day with the grandparents while the three adults listened.

Throughout the meal, there were no uncomfortable silences, unpleasant conversation pieces, or fighting-an improvement Rory was happy to witness, an improvement she hoped would only get better.

As always, Maisy insisted on a fattening dessert that Luke found repulsing but the girls found delicious. Somehow, after all they had consumed, the girls had talked Luke into going roller skating. Lorelai claimed that it was the only way for them to lose all the calorie intake they had just inhaled.

Then, he wasn't sure how, but they had sweet talked him into getting ice cream afterwards. It was more Rory's idea than Lorelai's or Lucy's, but she had witnessed the way everyone interacted that night and didn't want it to end. For the first time in months, Rory found her mother to be truly happy and Lucy excited to be with both of her parents.

* * *

To end the night, Rory said goodnight to her family and headed for her bedroom which was followed by Lorelai and Luke getting a sleeping Lucy to bed without waking her up. Successful in their attempt, Lorelai motioned for him to retreat back downstairs. She looked over at him and gave a small smile.

"Tonight was fun," she said, still wearing the small smile.

"It was. Another small step?"

"Not small, but not big. Just a step."

"Just a step," Luke repeated, then added, "in the right direction."

Lorelai gave a soft nod and smile again. She allowed her eyes to meet his as she contemplated her next move. Finally, she took a small step toward him and gently grabbed one of Luke's hands. "I know we're not all better since we had a great night, and I also know that you don't want to go back to the office again, as you told me earlier. But, I know how uncomfortable that couch is. So why don't you just come up to our room? Might as well get used to it again since we're planning on this counseling stuff to fix what we broke."

Luke agreed, relieved that she wasn't shutting him down anymore. They both made their way back upstairs and prepared for bed.

Together they had an unspoken agreement that nothing, absolutely nothing, would be happening that night. Though Lorelai did look at Luke and softly said, "you know...if this whole counseling thing backfires we can blame Rory; it was her idea."

"It's going to work. It's going to work and we'll be on the road to recovery," Luke stated, causing Lorelai to smile at his newfound efforts of family life.

**A/N: This may be the longest chapter yet. So this chapter was originally planned to be counseling, but my friend told me she wanted to read about them being a family or rather working toward the image they want before the counseling, so I went with that. I find Lorelai both too nice (in being willing to have a whole family night type thing and letting Luke sleep back in their bed before knowing if counseling will even help) but also mature (in the fact that she is willing to put differences aside to give Lucy one day of happiness (being with her grandparents all day and then a family night when she returned). **


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1**

**Thank you for all the reviews. I am taking a break from packing in order to write the next few chapters since ideas keep coming to me. Also, I plan on re-writing one of the many storeis I deleted, "New Beginning". Thinking of a different title, definitely re-writing the chapters. I just can't promise on when it will actually be uploaded. **

Chapter 14

The Friday following their family night out, Luke and Lorelai found themselves outside of the counselor's office. Luke seemed hesitant about going in but proceeded to follow Lorelai as she kept walking to the building's entrance.

Their wait in the waiting room was silent. They hadn't spoken a word to each other since the night before. And both knew that it was because Luke still didn't want to do this. Tensions would rise even more once they entered that room because all of their problems would be laid out on the table, some problems that Lorelai never voiced out loud, that and Luke would find out that Lorelai had kept the fact that more than three sessions would take place.

When they were called back, the silence continued. As they were led into the office, the two took a seat in the two leather chairs in front of the wooden desk as the therapist sat in the chair opposite their's.

"To start off I'm just going to ask a few questions. We'll start off easy; what brings you to the office?"

Lorelai looked at Luke expecting him to jump in to defend himself, but when he stayed silent, Lorelai took full reign. "For the past six months or so, Luke and I have grown apart. I would say it started two months after he found out he has a twelve-year-old daughter. You see, Luke decided to keep his daughter a secret from me for two months-I only found out because I saw her in Luke's business. Grudgingly, Luke revealed what he had been hiding. In the months following, he continued to push myself and our daughter out of his life for April-that's his other daughter. I kept quiet about it for a while but eventually I just blew up. We got in a huge fight over it and ever since we've been fighting non-stop. I even have divorce papers drawn up that he refused to sign."

The therapist looked at Luke who remained silent. "Luke? Anything to add?"

"I was not keeping her from you! Or Lucy! It just happened. You should have said something to me when you first started feeling this way!" Luke barked, taking the therapist by surprise, though not Lorelai who was prepared for the outburst.

"We've been over this already Luke. Let's just drop this until we're ready to discuss it in full length," Lorelai managed to state calmly. Honestly, she was confused. Luke seemed to accept everything already after he and Lorelai had lengthy disussions all week over the main issue, but his outburst just contradicted everything.

Trying to calm Luke down, the therapist decided to ask her next question in hopes that he wouldn't explode again. "Luke, why don't you tell me how you and Lorelai met? How did you fall in love?"

Luke took a deep calming breath and jumped into the story he once told Lorelai at Sniffy's. Lorelai sat in the chair adjacent to Luke's and gave the smallest of smiles as she recalled Luke telling her the same story all those years ago on their first date. And Luke was right when he explained how they fell in love; it just kind of happened-much like their friendship.

* * *

"You missed your daughter's birthday! What kind of father does that?" Lorelai screamed much thirty minutes later into their session. The first session was set to be around ninety minutes and so far, it had been an excruciating fourty-five minutes.

"I didn't miss it! I went to her party at the inn."

"For an hour, Luke! An hour! And you left because you had plans with April!

Luke pulled his cap off his head in frustration. "Anna wouldn't have appreciated me breaking plans with April!"

Lorelai turned and looked at Luke directly in his eyes. "Well I don't appreciate you skipping out on your daughter's birthday. You couldn't have brought April." There was venom in Lorelai's voice that Luke had never heard before.

"I didn't want you near my daughter!"

He didn't mean for it to slip out, the truth of the past few months.

Lorelai looked at Luke again and before she could stop herself, slapped him across the face. "About time the truth came out," Lorelai said as she grabbed her bag and walked out of the office.

Luke could still feel the sting of Lorelai's, surprisingly strong, slap. His hand went to rub the now red area before he looked at the therapist who seemed just as shocked as Luke.

"She's mad," Luke stated as if the woman couldn't see it for herself.

"Yes, yes I see that. Would you...let me go get you some ice." Once she came back, she sat back down in her chair. "Well...the first meeting is supposed to help me get to know the couple, considering half the couple isn't here, let's call it a day and end the session."

"Yeah, yeah...sure. Um...Lorelai isn't normally like that. She's never physical like that. It's kind of expected considering everything."

* * *

It was when Luke was leaving the office that he realized that Lorelai had drove them here in the Jeep. His truck was back in Stars Hollow. Pleased that he had rememered his cell phone, Luke dialed Liz in hopes that she would be able to pick him up.

"Big brother! I thought you were with Lorelai?"

"Hey, Liz. Lorelai kind of left without me. So I need a ride home..." Luke trailed off hoping his sister knew where he was going.

"Tell me where you are, I'll come and get you. It's the least I could do for everything you've done for me." Luke gave Liz the address and found a bench to sit on for the thirty minute wait.

* * *

"I kind of just left him there," Lorelai finished explaining the trip to the counselor to Rory.

Rory was shocked to say the least. Luke had always insisted that he didn't mean to keep April from the rest of the family, but he accidentally let the truth slip. Curious, Rory questioned Lorelai, "So...what happens now. I mean are you definitely getting a divorce or are you continuing counseling?"

"I don't know."

"Well if it was up to you," Rory continued to interrogate.

Shrugging her shoulders, Lorelai looked at Rory. "A huge part of me wants to work everything out. But there's always that small part of me that will question everything he does and says since his little revelation today."

* * *

Luke opened the front door of the house after thanking Liz for the save calling out Lorelai's name.

"Sounds like he found a way home. I'm just going to slip out the back door. It's lucky Lucy's at dance, huh?"

"Oh _so_ lucky." Lorelai waited until Rory slipped out before answering, "kitchen!"

"What the hell is your problem? You just left me there, stranded, because you were mad."

"Like you wouldn't have done the same to me."

Standing with his hands on his hips, Luke fought back. "NO, I wouldn't have."

"Lie number two of the day. You left me stranded in Hartford after we had an sonogram appointment because you got mad at me for wanting to find out the sex of our baby. You just stormed out of there and left you pregnant wife stranded. In the cold, I might add. Now I will say that I shouldn't have hit you like that, but do you honestly think you didn't have it coming?"

"We were supposed to go to your parents house after the appointment. Their house is fifteen minutes from the doctor's office not a half hour."

"Fifteen minutes by driving. I walked for five minutes before I called my dad to come and pick me up. At least I didn't leave you stranded in the middle of December-in the freezing cold. Why the hell are we fighting over this? So what, I left you stranded in Hartford, in the summer weather. Big deal. You could have caught a bus. I see you didn't have a problem getting home. My point is that yes, I left you stranded, but at least I didn't do it in the middle of December while you were pregnant. Besides, fresh air will do you some good. What you really should be concerned about is your lie to me about April."

**A/N: Okay, so I went online to look up marriage counseling because I know nothing about it. For the turn of events, that was partly my friend's idea. **


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1**

**Thank you all for the reviews. So I have the rest of each chapter ready to type. I just need opinions on the epilogue. I know exactly how it's going to go, however, I'm not sure if I should do it form Lorelai's POV or Luke's POV or just leave it as third person. **

Chapter 15

In the week following the 'counseling blow-up' as Rory referred to it, Lorelai has banished Luke to the diner's apartment. She wanted to work things out, she really did, but Luke just had her so mad that she didn't want to see him until after her next therapy session-the session in which she would attend alone so the therapist could get Lorelai's side.

She knew she couldn't keep Lucy from Luke forever, but she also didn't want to see him, so Rory was the middle party, dropping off and picking up Lucy for her mother.

It was one week since everything had fell apart more than they already were, and Lorelai was on her way to the therapist's office. She didn't want to admit it, but she was nervous of what the therapist would say, especially after Lorelai's outburst the week prior.

Once she stood outside the office doors, she took a deep, calming breath and walked in. The wait seemed shorter than first time around. Most likely because she didn't have to worry about Luke and his attitude towards the whole counseling idea.

"Alright, Lorelai. During this session, I am going to get your take on the issues. Next week I will do the same with Luke. You will be back her in two weeks to have another session together. And from there you and Luke decide if you want to attend more sessions."

Lorelai nodded her head, wanting the woman to stop using the word 'sessions' so many times. The word was about to lose all meaning if the woman spoke it one more time. "So do I just start with my complaints about Luke, or what?"

"Just start off with telling me the problems in your marriage."

"Okay, well...for starters, it took him two months to tell me about his daughter. For the following months I had hardly saw him, nor did our daughter. And, as you heard last week, he was keeping her away because he didn't want April near me. I was told that he didn't even realize that he was pushing his family away. We had a fight when he got back last week. Over my leaving him here..."

"And how did that turn out?"

"We fought about how he left be stranded here in December while I was pregnant. He used the excuse that my parents house was closer, and where we were going after the appointment, than the half hour drive to Stars Hollow. But still, he left his pregnant wife in the freezing cold just because he was mad at me. Yes, last week I left because I was mad. Yes, I left him here, but at least it was warm out, and he's not pregnant."

The therapist nodded as she made notes of Lorelai's words. "Seeing as his hidden daughter is the base of your current fighting, can you tell me how you feel about April?"

Lorelai shrugged her shoulders. "There isn't much to tell. If you mean to ask me if I hate her, the answer is no. If it's anyone I hate it's her mother who kept her from Luke. Other than that, all I can tell you is what I was told myself from our neighbors. If she's anything like they say she is, then she's great. But I can't make that decision because I don't even know her. Like I said, the only reason I found out about her is because I walked into Luke's diner unexpectedly and there she was, filling the salt shakers."

"Now how did you feel when you found out?"

"Obviously I was upset. I mean my husband had kept this huge secret from me. But I offered to help. Luke just refused it. He started leaving voicemails of when I could come to the diner. I had to follow a schedule just so I could see my husband. How would you feel about that?" At the therapist's silence, Lorelai continued her rant. "It's not a great feeling. You feel like you've been it in the gut. He just pushed us away. Maybe I could have handled it had it been just me, but our daughter was caught in it all too. She's just as heartbroken as I am. Lucy even told me that she didn't want to be with Luke. That made me feel horrible. This girl looked up to him, always wanted to be with him and then suddenly she's telling me that she doesn't want him, doesn't want to see him."

* * *

When Lorelai arrived back to her house in Stars Hollow, she was greeted with the sight of Luke's car in the driveway. She really didn't want to deal with this right now. It was when she took a second glance at the truck that she saw the bike's handlebars sticking up. Lorelai figured he either had April with him, or he just had her bike with him to fix it again. Getting out, she walked over to the green truck and felt the hood; still hot, meaning he had just got here.

Lorelai walked into her house to find Luke sitting in the living room with April next to him. Ignoring him, she continued to the kitchen where she heard sniffles coming from Rory's room...only they weren't Rory's sniffles. Walking to the door of the room, she peaked in to see Lucy curled up on Rory's lap, clinging to her older sister.

"What's going on?"

Rory looked at Lorelai helplessly. She wasn't sure what to do in the moment. One minute she and Lucy are playing in the living room, the next Luke walks in with his older daughter. "Luke came in with April and was trying to force Lucy to talk to her or even play with her. I warned him not to, but you know Luke."

Lorelai instantly grew frustrated. She figured Luke was going to try and let the three of them meet after is little revelation in the therapist's office last week. "Alright...I'll take her." Once Lorelai had Lucy in her arms, Rory walked out of the room.

* * *

Walking into the living room, Rory looked at Luke. "You suck, you know that?"

"What the hell are you talking about."

Rory put down her car keys that she had picked out of her pocket and stared at Luke. "You think you can just come waltzing back into our lives like this? My sister was happy until you walked in. Lucy is exactly like Mom and myself; she doesn't do what people force her to do. And you coming in here, trying to force her to talk to April, to play with April like they've known each other forever, that's not cool Luke. That girl has been through enough because of you and when we finally get her back to where she used to be, you screw it all up. You knew what time Mom's appointment was, what time she would be back. So for you to just come in here at the time you knew she would be back after you told her last week that you didn't want her around April, that's just messed up." Rory took one last look at the two and took off out the front door.

Luke sat back down on the couch and rubbed the back of his neck, the habit he had grown into doing when he was frustrated. "Ah jeez."

* * *

Lorelai sat on Rory's bed, waiting for her daughter's cries to calm down. Once they were calm enough, Lorelai moved the brown locks of hair away from Lucy's face. "You want to tell me what happened?"

Mumbling into her mother's neck, Lucy explained. "He wanted me to talk and play with April. I was already doing that with Rory. He got mad when I said I didn't want to and yelled at Rory when she told him to stop. I don't want to talk or play with her. She's the reason why Daddy isn't around no more."

"Baby, that's not the reason why. April doesn't want to take your daddy away from you. She just wants to get to know him like you do. I'm sure there's a reason why he wanted you to play with April."

"He said he was hoping it'd make you stop being mad at him."

Lorelai sat there staring at her daughter, now having a better understanding of Luke's motives. So she began to question if Luke even wanted Lucy.

**A/N: I have the rest of the story planned out, there are 20-21 chapters total, so we're nearing the finish line. **


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer: Chapter 1**

**Hi, everyone! Sorry it has taken me forever and a day to update again. I began working on an update back in October but had to trash it because 1) it was not up to my standards, like the worst chapter ever and 2) my creative writing teacher added extra homework on top of what we already had. So the past week has been super crazy with having final projects due as well as two dinal exams I had to take. I knew college was going to be crazy busy, but WOW! I'm transferring to a different school next year, one closer to home, so I will be able to write more often. Winter break started over the weekend for me, so I am hoping to write as much as possible during break. **

**Remember the how I was going to only have 20-21 chapters of this story? Yeah, definitely NOT. I re-read what was already posted and decided that more than 5-6 chapters were needed to do this story some justice. **

**So, sorry for the delay! Also, I have deleted a majority of my stories because I plan to go back and edit them like crazy before reuploading the story (and I will most likely do weekly updates with them).**

**I will hopefully have the new chapter up by tomorrow night. **


	17. Chapter 17

**Readers, I am SO sorry I didn't have a chance to update over my winter break! I totally meant to, however I didn't have the chance to finish it. Friends and family wanted to meet up with me before I went back to school. I rearranged my school schedule due to some classes I had that I didn't like or that I knew I'd do poorly in, so now I have a workload of four classes, history, psychology, a writing class and a cinema class. I'm sure the class that will be taking up most of my time is the history one. On the plus side of rearranging, I now have no classes on Thursday, so I was thinking of making that the day I upload a new chapter? I'll try my best to upload on the weekends, however that is the time I use to hit up the library to do homework/projects along with going out/off campus with friends.**

**So how about that Gilmore Girls revival on Netflix? LG had me so hyped up I couldn't even watch Private Practice (yes, binge watching also took up a great deal of my time along with moving to a new house in the summer, then moving into my dorm AND last semester's workload so now I am in love with Grey's Anatomy, Hart of Dixie and Private Practice), so I am sorry that those are part of the reason I wasn't able to update. I'm going to try my best to give you guys long chapters, but I make no promises because I don't like when chapters drag on and on myself.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Gilmore Girls or am I affiliated with them. I only own DVDs and my picture with Lauren Graham.**

Chapter 16

It just wasn't fair. No child should be curled up in the mother's lap after being forced by her father to play with an unknown sister. As Lorelai continued to run her hands through Lucy's soft hair, she still questioned if Luke even wanted Lucy. From recent actions, she would assume no...but she knew what they said when you assume something.

But yet, Lorelai found herself sitting on Rory's twin bed, holding her youngest child wondering how she always chose absent fathers for her children. There was Christopher who ditched her at the young age of sixteen when she had denied his marriage proposal so many times. He waltzed in and out of both her life and Rory's when the time was convenient for him. Whenever he forgot their daughter's birthday, she found herself in the same position she was in now; comforting an upset child. Every time Christopher made an appearance in Stars Hollow, he made a young Rory get her hopes up. It was just never fair to Rory, the innocent party in the complicated relationship.

And then there was Luke. He came swooping in when Rory was a child. He had been a surrogate father to Rory Gilmore, even when he and Lorelai were just friends. Luke was there for every birthday, bumps and bruises, the chicken pox, school events. Hell, he substituted for Christopher when Rory's class were to bring their fathers in for some school event. There was even a time when he spent hours building sets for a play Rory would hardly even be in.

So how did it get here? How is it that the kind and caring Luke Lorelai was knew turned into this unrecognizable stranger? The man that Lorelai met all those years ago was nothing like current-day Luke. Back in the day, had he known he had a daughter, he would have went to Lorelai and told her. The Luke she married would never force their kids into doing something they didn't want. This new Luke was a monster in her daughter's mind. This new Luke was a man that she wanted to protect her child from.

* * *

In the half hour that had passed, Lucy had fallen asleep in her mother's lap and Lorelai knew that she would have to take Lucy up to her bedroom. The only thing was that on the way, she would have to pass by Luke and April. And once Luke knew Lucy was asleep and in her bed, he would most likely leave...or fight with Lorelai about their therapy session. The latter was something she would prefer not to encounter because words would be said that Lorelai wouldn't be able to take back; that and the fact that April was in her living room and shouldn't be subjected to listen to the arguments between her father and stepmother.

If Rory were home, she'd be able to avoid it all. Although, Lorelai knew she couldn't always use her daughter as a shield-that was something she would have to learn not to do.

So as slowly as she could, she gently lifted Lucy up in her arms trying her best not to wake the sleeping toddler before exiting the room and heading for the stairs. In reaching her destination, Lorelai entered the room and smiled. Rory had done something to get the young girl to clean her room.

Lucy had curled up into a ball when Lorelai had placed her on her bed and tucked her in and with the movement, Lorelai bent down at the bed near her daughter's head. Quietly, she began to run her fingers through her youngest daughter's soft hair again, only this time, it wasn't to calm the child down, but it was to remind Lorelai that even thought she had plenty of battles and hoops to jump through with Luke, she would always have her two children there, the two children that were the center of her world, who could always make her smile, whether they were twenty-one or five.

**Definitely Lorelai-centric. I'm thinking maybe next chapter would be Luke centric? Or maybe Lucy seeing as this chapter started out with Lucy's problem of being forced to do something so didn't want to? I'm still debating so if you want leave your opinions on the reviews and I'll go with the most voted :)**

**Sorry for making everyone wait forever for this update. I'm going to try to update at least once a week on Thursdays, however if I have some major essay or project that requires my attention on my day off, I will try to give two chapters the next week. Also, sorry for the long A/Ns. **


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